


Save Your Tears For Another Day

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alpha Andy, Alpha Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Alpha Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Animalistic, Beta Nile Freeman, Booker | Sebastien le Livre Needs a Hug, Consequences, Dubious Consent, Feral Behavior, Forced Pregnancy, Forgiveness, Hopeful Ending, Introspection, Medical Experimentation, Medical Procedures, Mentioned Quynh | Noriko, Mpreg, Multi, Omega Booker | Sebastien le Livre, Polyamory, Rape/Non-con Elements, Recovery, Slice of Life, Threesome - M/M/M, Unconventional Families, Unethical Experimentation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:21:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28600617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: During the capture, Booker's latent Omega nature gets triggered and he goes into a full blown heat while in the lab, prompting Dr. Kozak to go ahead and test her theory of whether two immortals can have an immortal child.She manages to do so before Nile comes to the rescue and once they have managed to get away, they have to learn to live with the complications of the experiments, Booker's betrayal, and the shifting dynamics that brings.And decide whether it will break them, or make them all the stronger for it.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Nile Freeman, Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 98
Kudos: 138





	1. You could have told me that you fell apart

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first foray into the fandom after reading the comics and finally watching the movie as well as some AMAZING fics that came from the kinkmeme.  
> I got inspired and I'm filling the prompts of Omega! Booker being heartbroken because he bore his sons, and being experimented on by Kozak wanting to test the theory of immortals having immortal children. He gets inseminated by Nicky and Joe's sperm and the team doesn't exile him, keeping him close as they work through the fall out.  
> Title is from The Weeknd's Song. Proofed, but if errors appear they will be fixed later. The non-con elements only in this chapter and are due to the experiments.

Booker knew that it had gone beyond fucked up when the sedative wore off and there was a prickling heat under his skin.

At first, he dismissed it as the stress from not only the weight of his betrayal hitting him, but also the knowledge that Andy was mortal again. He refused to believe that he was going into heat. Not when the last time had been in the 1800’s.

But once he was clear headed, the heat moved down and pooled low in his belly. He hadn’t started to get slick yet and his scent was still dulled when he was being restrained to one of the beds and Joe was yelling at him. 

Andy was too much in pain to put a stop to it and Nicky only glared as they tied them both down. Kozak barked out directions and in the flurry of activity, Booker cursed his luck and his own stellar decision making yet again. 

Not only had he betrayed his family, he had gotten them captured. And from the bloody sheets that covered Nicky and Joe, damned them to be sliced open for eternity. Or worse.

Which was the exact same thing that Joe was shouting at him right at that moment. 

“ _And rightly so. I fucked up. And fucked up bad,”_ Booker admitted grimly to himself as sweat beaded on his forehead and his scent of lavender and thyme spiked up enough to be noticeable. 

Once that happened, his stomach dropped and he started to thrash against the restraints that kept him tied down. 

“Nononono...This can’t be happening! Not after all these years! Not right now! Not right now!” Booker cried out frantically, his back arching when the first heavy pulse of heat and longing hit him.

Joe’s rant cut off abruptly when he watched Booker’s struggles and heard Booker’s desperate pleas. 

The scent hit him then, rich and floral and he understood. He turned to look at Nicky to confirm what he was seeing and one look at Nicky told him it was true. 

“He’s an Omega, love,” Nicky whispered, his eyes wide as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that despite living with Booker for two hundred years, only now this was coming out. How could they have missed it? How did Booker hide it for so long? 

“How can he be? We would have known!” Joe exclaimed, turning to Andy, who had pushed the pain down to something manageable and was now watching Booker writhe on the bed, his cries having turned to whimpers as the scent became heavy and cloying.

“He was starved and suffering from exposure in Russia so that would have put a stop to his heats. Remember? He was nothing but skin and bone then,” Andy explained, recalling how she got just a faint scent from Booker when they had gotten to him in Russia. 

Nicky nodded, “But after? It doesn’t add up.”

Booker shook his head and opened his mouth to explain when another heat cramp coursed through him, making him gasp out in pain instead. 

“His family dying would have. Especially if he had been the one to bear his sons,” Joe murmured, feeling a stab of pity for Booker. 

He understood now, why Booker had been so selfish and so stupid.And why he was so desperate to end it all. He pitied him and his grief and wished that Booker had said something. Anything instead of reaching out to Copely and landing them in Merrick’s labs.

Yet it didn’t negate his cold fury at having been kidnapped, tortured, and forced to watch as they did the same to his Nicky. Once he got loose, he would happily tear this lab and Meta Kozak apart. It was the least he could do to pay them back for what they had done. 

Nicky frowned, sighing heavily as his love explained. He too, felt sorry for Booker and his losses, but that was a pale thing compared to his anger. The betrayal stung and he would happily strangle Booker if given the chance. Not only had he given them up without a second thought, he had allowed him and Joe to be tortured. The ones that were his brothers. 

And now Andy was mortal and Nile…

“Well, well, well. This is a pleasant surprise,” Nicky and Joe turned to the voice, their blood turning to ice at the pleased purr of Kozak’s voice. 

Andy snarled as Kozak went up to Booker, who was glassy eyed and sweaty as he struggled vainly against the restraints. His scent was thick and cloying, reminding Andy of flower fields in the middle of a hot summer. Ripe and luscious and ready for the taking. Enough so that for a moment, Andy tasted him.

She clenched her fists and jolted, the pain a welcome distraction as it cleared her mind. 

Just in time to see Kozak lean over Booker and exclaim in delight while Booker only gasped and whined as the heat coursed through him. 

“If only we had gotten you first, I could have already started tests on an Omega,” Kozak muttered as she moved over to a drawer and started to pull out equipment. 

“No matter. You’re here now and in heat, so we can proceed with the next test: Can two immortals bear an immortal child?” Kozak purred out the question as she went to a small fridge and pulled out two test tubes that Nicky and Joe recognised immediately. 

Nicky shook his head, turning away from what he knew was going to happen to Booker. He struggled again, despite knowing how futile it all was. He met Joe’s eyes, giving him a small nod at the unspoken question in his lover’s eyes. 

“No! You can’t do that! He’s not an animal you can just breed like a prized cow! You can’t!” Joe shouted, struggling even harder against his own restraints, finally getting an arm loose. He moved to free his other arm and was nearly there when Kozak’s goon pinned him down. 

Nicky watched silently, gauging when it would be the right time to step in when Kozak pulled out a syringe and quickly jabbed it into Joe’s neck, knocking him out again. 

“We’ll have none of that,” Kozak replied calmly, as if Joe was being unreasonable. She nodded to the goon, who went to restrain Joe again, leaving Nicky to curse silently and turn his gaze to Booker.

Booker cried out, shaking his head as he watched her move away from an unconscious Joe and to the equipment she had left on one of the workspaces.

“Please! Please, I’m begging you! Don’t do this! I can’t-” Booker’s pleas were cut short when he too, was stabbed in the neck with a sedative and everything faded away from him. 

He didn’t really feel anything that she did to him, his mind wrapped in cotton from the strength of the sedative he had been given. It was all distant and so far away that he was only aware of _something_ going inside of him. There was a hard pinch and the next thing he knew, he was back in his body. 

Booker blinked, the heat and the lingering sedative making him loopy and detached.

It didn’t last long as reality slammed hard into him when he realised the cramps were gone and his scent had petered down to a strong herbal scent. Just like it had when-Booker cut off that thought quickly. No. He wouldn’t go there. He couldn’t.

Determined, he ruthlessly pushed it down and refused to think of it and instead turned his attention to the situation at hand. 

He swallowed hard, not sure how to react as he turned his head and saw Nicky and Joe looking at him not with contempt, but with raw pity. He turned and saw Andy’s face was blank, the same way it was blank when things had gone to hell and she was trying to keep it together for their sakes. 

Booker wondered if he should say something, _anything_ when he was saved by the appearance of Nile. He breathed a sigh of relief as she moved quickly and got Nicky and Joe loose, Andy, then himself. He was glad when she only pursed her lips and got him free.

“I don’t wanna hear it. We’ll have time later. Right now, I need you to fight,” Nile stated, yanking him out of the false calm he had pushed upon himself.

“I can do that,” Booker agreed, following her and the other’s lead as they mowed through all of the security forces, giving Andy and Nile time to finish Merrick off. If Kozak was there, Booker didn’t notice. He simply followed his family silently as they drove to the nearest safe house and got cleaned up. 

If Nile noticed the tension or silence, she didn’t comment on it. Nor did she comment on the way that Nicky and Joe kept flicking undecipherable looks at Booker, who was sat slumped in the corner of the car and hunched in on himself. He wasn’t looking at anything or anyone, his gaze focused inward at least until they got to the safe house. 

“Hey, get cleaned up. We’re going to the pub in an hour,” Andy told him, snapping him out of his thoughts. 

Booker shook himself and nodded, his words suddenly drying up when he tried to speak. Andy held the door open, letting him out. They walked to the house together, with Andy shielding him. Something that made him both sad and want to laugh at the same time. 

She hadn’t ever watched his six for as long as he had been with them. She had always trusted him to take care of himself. At least that was before when she thought him a Beta. He had to wonder if she was aware of what she was doing, or if it was just coincidence. 

He didn’t have it in him to ask. Nor did he care. 

He needed to get clean and wait for their judgement and punishment. 

Yeah, despite what had happened at Merrick’s labs, Booker was still a traitor. He had endangered his family. Had enabled the torture of Nicky and Joe, his closest friends and who he had loved in a way that wasn’t _strictly_ platonic or brotherly for awhile now. Had shot Andy and had no doubt made Nile’s transition harder than it needed to be. He knew he deserved their anger and whatever punishment they deemed fit for him to serve. 

It was only fair, after all that he had done. 

The new circumstances didn’t change anything. 

They went inside and he went straight to the miraculously empty shower. He should have been suspicious, but he was too numb to care. He only wanted to get clean and wait for their verdict. 

He would deal with the rest as it came. 

The ride to the pub was silent and the tension thick enough for them to show obvious relief to a person when they pulled up to the place. It nearly made Booker laugh. He would have, but his throat was tight. So he remained quiet as they went.

Of course they ended up at the Prospect of Whitby and Booker only half smiled as they headed inside. 

He itched for a drink once they entered the pub and was actually heading to the bar when he was intercepted by Andy, who only shook her head and ordered a non-alcoholic cider for him instead. 

“We need some time. You can go outside or by the river. Up to you,” Andy muttered as she handed him the drink and ushered him to the patio. 

“Thanks,” Booker replied in a strangled whisper before he took a sip, wincing at the tartness of the drink before walking down the riverside. He doubted he could stay on the patio while he waited for his family to decide his fate. 

~*~*~*~

Andy sat back and pressed the cold glass of water to her forehead, not ready to speak. Joe and Nicky sat slumped across from her and Nile, who was sitting with her arms crossed in front of her as she chewed on her bottom lip. She was clearly uncomfortable and wanted to be anywhere but at that table with three clearly unhappy people. 

“We have to decide on something. He betrayed us. Put us in danger. So what are the consequences?” Andy asked, her eyes weary as she spoke. She didn’t want to be doing this, but they had to. Booker had to pay the price for his betrayal and his choices. 

“I would say exile,” Nicky countered, his eyes fixed on the drink he took a sip of, “but that’s not a feasible option now, is it.”

Nile stopped chewing on her lip, her head snapping to Nicky once she registered what he had just said. 

“Exile? You’d actually exile him?” Nile asked incredulously.

Nicky and Joe shrugged. 

“It’s one option. Not like we can execute him. And even that’s off the table after what Kozak did to him,” Joe muttered darkly. 

Nile frowned. “What exactly did she do? He was out of it when I got to him and he smelled like flowers…” She trailed off once she realised what that would mean, her eyes widening. 

“But...He never smelled like that before! I thought he was a Beta! Did she do that?”

Andy sighed and drank her water, wishing it was vodka instead. “In a way. His Omega traits were dormant for years, The stress, the grief, the drinking probably contributed to that.”

Nile nodded, still stunned by the news that Booker was an Omega. 

“Something in the sedatives must have triggered them to return and he presented in the lab. Kozak saw it as an opportunity to test a theory and…” Joe triggered off, his eyes empty as he recalled coming to the moment that Kozak was done with Booker. She was triumphant and smirking as she disposed of the now empty syringes and containers and Joe had felt sick to his stomach when he had caught a glimpse of Booker’s blank face and opened jeans.

She had fixed him up after, and Joe had thought it was like the cleaning up of a crime scene. No mess. No evidence. No crime. 

“And now Booker might be pregnant. With mine or Nicky’s child.” Joe continued softly. Nicky flinched, his grip on the glass tightening. Andy only signalled for a stronger drink. She wasn’t doing this one stone sober.

Nile swore softly, slumping back in her chair after hearing that. “Are you sure that he is?”

Andy sighed and Nicky put his glass down a tad harder than necessary. 

“He is. His scent’s already changed. It’s sweeter, milder now. Not as cloying and heavy as in the lab,” Nicky explained, falling back on what he recalled from the frenetic exit and the long ride to the safe house. 

Booker had been in front of him during their escape and despite the overlapping scents around them, Nicky could smell the sweet milk scent of him. It hadn’t been strong, but it had been strong enough for Nicky to pause and stare once it had clicked in his mind. 

“Oh. So where does that leave us?” Nile asked quietly. 

They sat in silence for a long time, ony breaking it to get their drinks and brainstorm on what else could be done in regards to Booker’s betrayal. 

“Angry. And betrayed. And hurt.” Joe replied, his voice going quiet at the end. “He gave us up to that sadist. Nicky and I were tortured for hours. He broke our trust. He has cracked _us._ ”

Joe’s voice shook at the last word, prompting Nicky to reach out and rub his back in soothing circles. He fell quiet as he let Nicky offer him wordless comfort until he was in control of himself once more. Andy drank her vodka and Nile pressed her lips into a thin line as they waited for Joe to center himself again. 

“And in turn, they cracked him. And as much as I am angry at him...I can’t, with all good conscience, let him go. Even though I could easily kill him for what he did...I can’t condone exiling him.” Joe whispered.

Nicky sighed heavily. “I agree with my love. Booker can stay. Just don’t expect either of us to welcome him with open arms. Or acknowledge him in any way.”

Andy shrugged and drank down the dregs of her vodka. “And the child? Does that extend to them as well?”

Nicky stiffened and Joe blew out a deep breath, both weighing their answers carefully. 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Nicky stated firmly, his tone brooking no opposition. Joe only looks out the window that faces the river, keeping an eye on Booker as he wanders aimlessly on the river bank. 

Nile rubs her forehead and turns to Andy, who put her glass down and is standing up. 

“If that’s all, we might as well tell him. Or should I do it alone?” 

In response, Joe and Nicky stood up and headed to the door. “We’ll wait for you in the car.”

Nile looked torn, but in the end, followed Nicky and Joe outside. 

Andy only shrugged her coat on and headed out to the riverbank. It was better that she did this alone. 

She went down the stairs with enough noise to alert Booker, who turned around in time to see her and smiled a watery smile. She returned it before she ended up on the pebbled bank, both of them staring out at the river. 

Booker remained silent, waiting for her verdict. Andy can see the nerves in him and how hard he’s trying to not show them. His scent though, is what gives him away, smelling of spoiled milk and dusty herbs. 

The combination is awful enough to make Andy’s nose wrinkle with both disgust and a sinking certainty. 

Nicky was right. Booker was pregnant. 

“So what’s the punishment? Exile? Or do you get to kill me a couple of times and call it a day?” Booker asked sardonically.

Andy scowled. “None of that. You come back, with us. You do your penance with us. However long that takes.”

Booker laughed hoarsely at that. “Why are you being easy on me? I betrayed you. I shot you. And I led them to Nicky and Joe and that sadistic bitch who hurt them for hours. Surely you can come up with something much more creative than that!”

Andy rolled her eyes up at the sky before turning to look at Booker. “Only you would be stubborn enough to argue for punishment, Booker.”

Booker laughed again. A sharp, bitter sound this time. “I knew it would happen once you found out I was an Omega. Is that why?”

“No. It’s because you’re pregnant, Book. And as angry and hurt as we are about what you did to me, to Nicky and Joe, and to Nile...We aren’t cruel enough to turn you and your child away,” She paused, stepping closer to a stunned Booker who was looking down at his middle, “You’re still our family, Sebastien.We will still love you no matter what. Even if you do make shit choices.”

Booker gave a ghost of a laugh at that, but didn’t turn away from her. She tentatively embraced him and it was then that he crumpled, holding her as tightly as he dared.

“I don’t deserve this. None of it,” he murmured brokenly, voice clogged with tears and his scent strong, but not as sour or acrid as before. 

“Maybe not yet. But in time. Everyone deserves a second chance. Even you.” Andy replied easily, rubbing his back as he finally finished his painful crying of choked out sobs. 

“Thank you,” he muttered hoarsely after several minutes, his eyes swollen and his nose wet. Andy nodded as she reached into the pocket of her jacket and handed him a crumpled, but clean tissue. He took it and wiped himself off, chucking the wadded up tissue in the bin. 

“Come on then. I can’t promise it will be easy, but it will be worth it if you try.”

Andy paused and gave him a sharp look. “Just be careful with Nicky and Joe. They may have agreed, but they still need time.”

Booker nodded. “Thanks for the warning.”

Andy smiled faintly before she turned to go, not looking back to see if Booker was following.

After a moment, she could hear his footsteps crunching on the pebbles behind her.


	2. But then you saw me, caught you by surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Booker does his best to make amends and keep his distance from the rest of his family and tries to respect Joe and Nicky's wishes. He feels like he's doing a good job so far. But of course, his luck only lasted so long.  
> Nicky and Joe are still furious and avoiding Booker, until one night forces them to intervene when Booker's nightmares wake them, forcing them to re-evaluate what they know and what they need to do.

Booker hummed in satisfaction once he had the last of passports done. He put the Finnish passports into the diplomatic folder and placed it on the upper right corner of his desk, away from the paper mess that covered the rest of it. It was the most obvious place for him to store it before he would pass it on to either Andy or Nile whenever they got back.

He debated leaving it on the dining room table with a note, but a quick glance at the clock told him that one, it was very late and two, there was a chance of running into either Nicky or Joe as they had their evening tea. And since they hadn’t directed a word to him in two and a half months, he didn’t dare risk it. So it would stay on his desk for his sisters to pick up.

They had left earlier, leaving the details with Nicky and Joe and a brief note for Booker to finish the passports before they got back in a couple of days give or take. 

It had been left on the table when Booker had finally been able to drag himself out of bed in the late afternoon, and he had applied himself to the task. It was finicky work, but it was what he needed to keep the turmoil at bay. If he concentrated on this, he wouldn’t have to focus on the guilt and loneliness he carried like a stone in his chest. 

He hated that Nicky and Joe were so close, yet so far away. 

He hadn’t set out for it to happen in the physical sense as well, but once they had come to this safe house and he had scouted the layout, he had made sure to stay apart. And to stay in the room that was clearly a later addition to the rest of the house and the furthest from the center.

Nile had been the one to ask him if that was what he really wanted. The other rooms had been painted in creams and had large windows, making them cheery and brighter. The room Booker had picked was darker with dingy blue walls in a corner with smaller windows. The only saving grace of it was that it had its own ensuite and a built in desk, giving him less reasons to leave when he was working on whatever Andy required of him.

Booker had fervently assured her it was once he had taken a look at the cluster of rooms. As much as he had been close to caving in and taking Nile’s suggestion of taking one of them, he knew he couldn’t. Not when it meant being so close to the family he had betrayed. And not when he would be surrounded by the scents of Alphas and a Beta who couldn’t give him what he needed. 

He was fully aware that he theoretically _could_ ask Nicky and Joe to scent blankets for him. He had done it when his wife was alive and she had to travel away from him. And even though he yearned to be surrounded by their scents, he couldn’t scrounge up the courage to do so and made do with blankets and the odd clothes scrounged from the laundry. 

The clothing wasn’t missed, since he was the one that was unofficially put on laundry duty, but it was the bare minimum that he needed to keep the baby healthy. 

Being so close to them and not being able to have it would be pure torture.

So Booker had lied through his teeth and said it was what he wanted. 

She had looked unconvinced, but left him to it, while Andy had simply shrugged and gone to pick out her own room. Nicky and Joe had only noted the location of the room and made a point to avoid going near it. That, Booker had expected, but it still had stung. 

The room wasn’t exactly what he would have picked in different circumstances. But after spending his first night there, waking up screaming and no one appearing, he reconciled himself to it. 

He had made it as welcoming as he possibly could once Andy had decided they would lay low for a year before they made any decisions. He had started in earnest once that conversation was had a week after they had arrived in Lleida. The unspoken implication that it was for them to wait out the pregnancy and the birth wasn’t lost on Booker. 

Yet he only nodded like the rest of them and set about gathering supplies for both continuing his work as the team’s forger, for the baby, and for his nest. Something he realised he needed after that first interrupted night, when he woke up whimpering and crying. He ached to be held, but had no one to do it. 

Booker hated that it was his actions that caused that and he would have to wake up and live with it for a century. Or maybe longer, if he was being honest. Nicky and Joe didn’t forget. Nor was their forgiveness easily given either. 

That was _if_ they ever decided he was worth forgiving. 

Booker hoped so. He really did. After all, he didn’t know if he would be able to raise a child that looked like either Nicky or Joe and be reminded of his mistake. A reminder of what he would never be able to have ever again. 

And if they didn’t, well…

“I at least have you, _ma petite._ So that’s something,” Booker murmured to his child, smoothing a hand down the still flat planes of his abdomen. He wouldn’t show for a while yet, he recalled that much from when he carried his sons. But he could get a sense of them.

And he loved this child of his, which he was sure would be a girl. Already, he was imagining a girl with Nicky’s eyes and sharp cheekbones. Or one with Joe’s long dark curls. Either way, he would love them and cherish them. 

Booker pushed any other thoughts away and instead headed to the bathroom and got ready for bed. He was done for the day and was desperate for sleep. 

Once he was done, he crawled into his nest and wrapped himself up with the faintly scented blankets stolen from Nicky and Joe’s laundry and quickly fell asleep.

_He was dreaming again._

_The darkness. The cold. The water flooded his lungs as he struggled to take a breath and not drown again. The rusting metal under his hands. The frantic beating of his heart as he kicked and screamed wordlessly as he fought. And fought._

_He screamed and screamed, the sound swallowed by the water as he beat his fists against the metal and hit-_

He heard a grunt as he blindly lashed out again, making whoever it was yell before he was bear hugged from behind and pressed down into the mattress. 

His eyes flew open when his face hit the bouncy surface and it was then that he realised it was only the dream. He groaned raggedly and let his body go limp despite the adrenaline coursing through him.

He was fine. He was fine. He wasn’t drowning. He was fine. 

At least that was what he was trying to tell himself until he caught the scent of mint and sandalwood that was uniquely _Joe_ and his struggles increased again.

His brain switched into panic mode. He had to get away from Joe before he hurt the baby! Booker could survive. He didn’t know if the baby could. That thought was enough to have him lash out and struggle with renewed strength.

The scent of leather and pine hit him and his struggles slowed, but didn’t stop until he heard Nicky’s voice.

“Booker! Booker! Stop! Stop! It’s alright! It’s alright! _C’est correct! C’est correct!_ ” 

Nicky soothed him lapsing into French, that finally got through his panicked mind. If Nicky was there, Joe wasn’t going to harm him. Nicky would hold him back long enough for Booker to get free and get away safely. 

He may have been pregnant with a child from one of them, but he knew how they operated. They were still angry, but they wouldn’t hurt an innocent child. And as much as he hated that calculating part of himself, he hoped that a child of theirs would be enough to give him that pass.

He huffed and went limp, not moving until Joe had gingerly let go and slowly backed away from him, getting off the bed with equally slow and telegraphed movements. He backed away even further to stand next to Nicky, who had done the same thing.

Once he was free, Booker sat up and crawled backwards, stopping only when his back hit the wall. He rubbed his face roughly as he tried to find his voice and tell them that they could go. That it was nothing really and that he was sorry to have woken them up. 

Had he woken Andy and Nile up? No. They were on a simple recon mission, easy for two of them to handle even if one was mortal now. The knowledge surfacing abruptly through his clouded mind as he caught sight of the neat folder and the scattered mess on his desk he had been too tired to clean up. Nicky and Joe had been left manning the comms, Booker’s condition being the excuse for him not doing that work. 

He hadn’t argued the logic. He was both resigned and tired enough not to and had done his best to stay out of Nicky and Joe’s way while the women were away. They hadn’t acknowledged him at all since Andy and NIle had left two days ago and Booker was sure the pattern was going to hold. 

Yet here they were.

Booker must have been extremely loud for them to have heard him and come running to his room. Especially since he had the room the furthest away from them in the back of the house, across the large common area and the kitchen of this particular safehouse in Lleida.

He huffed a sigh and rubbed his burning eyes, surprised that they were still there, watching him with calm gazes, their faces giving nothing away. 

It was unnerving, since they hadn’t as much as looked in his direction in the last couple of months. Andy and NIle had been the ones to interact with him, so having Nicky and Joe be in his room, in his nest was discombobulating for him. 

He cleared his throat as he pulled a pillow in his arms for comfort and as a shield as he gathered his courage to thank them and end the standoff. 

“I’m sorry that...I’m sorry to have disturbed you. You don’t have to stay any longer. I’m fine now, thank you,” Booker finally managed to get out, his eyes focused on his now destroyed nest.

They both moved from their positions, but Booker didn’t look up from the tangled blankets and scattered pillows. He didn’t dare, not wanting to see the cold contempt that they looked at him with for the past two months and a half. It wasn’t often, since they actively avoided each other, but the few times he had that expression levelled at him had been enough. 

They were still as furious as ever and Booker knew better than to antagonise them. So he held himself still and waited for them to leave.

It took a little longer than he had expected when he finally heard them shuffle towards the door and shut it behind them. He sagged in relief and looked up, ready to get to work on his nest.

“That was far better than expected, _ma cherie,"_ he murmured, to his barely there bump before he uncurled himself from his spot and started to rearrange his nest the way he liked it. 

Booker took a little longer than he liked, since he couldn’t help but to scent the blanket that Joe had touched, shivering in delight at the renewed scent. He found himself doing the same when he came across one of the pillows that Nicky had shoved to the side, moaning a bit at the scent of pine and leather that was all him. It was barely enough to keep his instincts from rebelling, but it was something at least.

By the time he was done, he was yawning and he could barely keep his eyes open. The adrenaline had worn off and that combined with having Nicky and Joe’s scents in his nest were enough to send him straight into darkness that he didn’t wake up from until much later.

How much later, he wasn’t sure, since the light coming into his room seldom changed. All he knew was that he hadn’t felt this rested in years. He felt good, really good in a way he didn’t think possible until he had reached his final death. Huh.

Booker stretched a bit, pondering why that had been the case when he noticed two new blankets had been laid over him. Blankets that he didn’t recall stealing from the laundry, but were sinfully soft and smelled strongly of-

He sat up abruptly, his heart racing as he realised that either Nicky or Joe had left them scented blankets for him.

He swallowed hard, feeling curiously vulnerable. He knew that the door was only a symbolic barrier between them. If they chose, they could enter his rooms and vice versa. No one did though, since they were all keen on keeping at least one space to themselves.

Yet Joe or Nicky had. Twice, Booker noted. 

But why had they even bothered? 

And even odder was that he hadn’t even stirred when either of them had. He laid back down, curling onto his side as he tried to ponder why they would bother to wake him from his nightmare and then give him blankets with their scents on them. 

They despised him. They were angry at him too. So why would they do all of this?

He didn’t understand. And at that moment, Booker was too overwhelmed to find an answer. 

He shifted in his nest, turning to grab his phone from the nightstand when he noticed the sheet of cream paper folded in half under it. 

“Huh,” Booker murmured as he took it and unfolded it, his heart racing as he wondered what he would find written on it. 

_“Booker,_

_Even though the situation is not ideal, the child you carry does not deserve to be harmed or to suffer from its parent's estrangement. Nicky and I will provide blankets with our scents on them to help._

_Drop the blankets in the hamper in the kitchen when the scent has faded and we will provide you new ones. Maybe this will help with your sleep as well._

_Joe.”_

Booker read and re-read the note twice before he folded it again and tucked it into a copy of _“Twenty Years After”_ by Dumas and laid back down again, curling up into the blankets and letting his mind go blank and back into sleep. He was suddenly too exhausted to even try and function right then and there. 

~*~*~*~*~

Nicky was standing by the counter in the kitchen, staring out the window as he waited for the kettle to heat water for the coffee. The electric kettle was burbling away as it boiled, the press had coffee at the bottom of it. He had put out two mugs and milk and was just waiting for the water to boil. 

He waited for his coffee and waited for Joe, who had earlier gone to their room. Nicky hadn’t paid it much mind when he saw Joe leaving with their blankets. Nor when he headed back to their room with two unfamiliar blankets. He figured that Joe would explain himself. Especially since Nicky was fairly sure it had to do with last night’s events. 

Events that he hadn’t quite had the courage to examine too strongly just yet.

“Is the coffee ready yet?” Joe’s return pulled him out of his unwanted ruminations. He turned to look at the kettle which was still boiling and then to his love. Joe’s mouth was a straight line and his face was drawn in a way that Nicky hadn’t seen since the day after they had escaped Merrick’s labs. 

“Not yet, _mi amore,_ ” Nicky assured him, pulling him closer and pressing a gentle kiss on his cheek. He hoped that it would ease the grief and anger that had been a constant companion to his love since they had found out about Booker’s betrayal. Nicky was no fool in expecting that coffee and his embrace would smooth over the further turmoil last night had caused Joe.

And to him. To what extent, Nicky couldn’t quite say just yet. 

The all encompassing anger he had felt whenever he thought or was near Booker was still there, but had coalesced into a calm fury. One that was kept at bay unless he happened to accidentally come across Booker. Something that was actually rare after the first two weeks they had settled into the Lleida safehouse. 

Andy had seen that anger and had pushed Copely for missions under the excuse that they needed to train Nile due to the changing dynamics of the team. She had been the one to have Booker forge their credentials and man the comms along with Copely. Something Joe had vociferously protested until Andy had shut him down. 

“He’s not got it in him for another betrayal, Joe. As much as Booker wanted to end himself before, he’s got an incentive not to anymore,” she frowned as she cast a sidelong glance at him and Nicky before she continued, “Well, more than one. He won’t screw it up. He wants to make it right. This is one way he can. Besides, we did agree he had to make amends, right?”

Joe had been about to argue again when Nicky had reached over and put his hand on his husband’s arm, shaking his head. 

“She has us there, _amore_.” Nicky soothed him, telling him to let it go. Andy was right. They had agreed. 

And it was an excellent way to make sure that he wasn’t planning anything and keep him in the loop. Nicky had seen the flash of hurt that had crossed Booker’s eyes and sharp spike of his floral scent the first time he had been left behind with Nicky as the unwilling babysitter.

And it had made Nicky get a small twinge of pity for him, something that he had been shocked and angry over. Why had Booker’s reaction affected him so?

Joe too, had been affected after Nicky had later told him about it. There was the telltale shine to his dark eyes and the set of his mouth that told Nicky he felt for Booker. But he wouldn’t admit it. Not yet.

And had instead fallen into a scientific explanation as a shield. Something that both exasperated and helped Nicky, since he was at a loss as to why Booker was affecting them like so.

“He is carrying our child, _habibi._ And as Alphas, we have no defence for a distressed pregnant Omega. Especially not one that is carrying our child,” Joe had explained. 

Nicky had sworn in Italian at that and had kissed Joe, signalling the end of the conversation, determined to not think about it again. 

He had done a good job in doing so. At least until last night when despite the doors and the distance keeping them and Booker apart, they got a glimpse of Booker’s nightmares. 

Nicky had been the one to jerk awake first, gasping for air. Joe followed right after, his mouth open as he gagged. 

They only had time to look at each other before they heard Booker’s screams reverberate through the house, pushing them into action. 

As if one, they rushed to Booker’s room, pulling the door open to find Booker gasping and choking, his hands balled into fists as he fought to get free from what Nicky knew with certainty was an Iron Maiden. 

“Quynh.” He breathed out as the pieces slotted themselves together. 

Booker was still dreaming of Quynh and had been for a long time. Probably for all of his immortal life. And he had never said a word. Even when Nile had asked, he had kept silent.

The drinking and the exhaustion. The desperation. All of it made sense now. 

And he had gotten a small reprieve with the child and the earlier proximity to him and Joe. But now it had worn off with the distance he and Joe had put between them. And that Booker continued at least until tonight. 

Nicky saw the moment that Joe put it together and he nodded at his husband as they watched Booker close in on himself and honour their request for space. 

They had left right after, both of them too disturbed by the epiphanies they just had in Booker’s dingy and small room. 

“Why didn’t he say anything, Nicky? Why did he think he had to carry that burden alone?” Joe wondered as he wandered about their room while Nicky leaned against the doorway. 

“Didn’t he trust us?” Joe asked plaintively, making Nicky come closer and embrace him.

“No. I think he wanted to. But he also didn’t want to cause us any pain. Booker’s far more perceptive than he lets on and he must have seen how it affected us when he mentioned the nightmares. So he just...stopped. And we just assumed they had gone away.”

Joe sighed heavily as he clutched at Nicky. “I am still furious at what he did to us. He betrayed us. And I get why he said we didn’t know what it was like. Because we didn’t.”

Nicky winced. Joe was right. They didn’t know because Booker stopped talking about them. “And we didn’t ask after he stopped talking.”

“I am also angry at his betrayal. At our torture. And I hate that we can’t walk away and leave him to his misery.” Nicky concluded. 

Joe pulled away and ran his hands through his curls before nodding. “And the baby. What kind of fathers would we be if we let our child suffer along with its mother?”

Nicky swallowed hard as he realised that Joe was right. They had, for better or for worse, to find a way to have some kind of relationship with Booker. Maybe not like they did before, but at least have _something_ in its place. 

Not only was Booker miserable and stressed, but the baby as well and they both knew he could lose it if it continued. And that would destroy Booker completely, something that Nicky and Joe wouldn’t wish on him. No matter what his sins, he didn’t deserve the grief of losing another child.

“You’re right. But what can we do? You saw him. He won’t believe us if we approach him,” Nicky pointed out. 

Joe chewed on his lip as he looked around the room, looking for inspiration until he saw their blankets. 

Nicky only watched as Joe had scribbled a note, taken their blankets and taken off. He was still confused as he saw Joe return with two of Booker’s blankets. 

“He’s been taking our blankets from the laundry, not washing them until the scent has faded and those he had only smelled of him So I switched them to help him sleep. Maybe the nightmares will stop after this. Now are you going to come to bed?”

Nicky was about to ask if Booker’s scent would help with Joe’s nightmares, but there was an odd look in Joe’s eyes that Nicky recognised as a warning. So he only crawled into the newly remade bed and curled up around Joe.

He only had a few moments to appreciate the floral and milk scent of Booker before he fell into a restful, dreamless sleep.

One he hadn’t had in a long, long time and he had to wonder if they also needed Booker to reach out as much as he needed him. Judging from last night-

“Nicky? What are you thinking of?” Joe’s question interrupted his thoughts. 

Nicky rubbed his mouth before he replied. 

“I think...I think we may have to call a truce, _amore._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joe and Nicky-They're still very angry, but they're not going to be horrible to Booker when he needs help. As Alphas, it's instinctual for them to take care of Booker, who is more or less their Omega. They also realise that they didn't know how badly Booker was sleeping and how terrible the dreams are and this pushes them to re-evaluate their approach to Booker.  
> Booker-Him having the Alpha scents and being pregnant does help him sleep more, since it provides a barrier from the nightmares. But it's not a tried and sure thing and he's not going to approach Joe and Nicky for help, since he wants to respect the terms of him being there with them all. He's also not as depressed here, since his baby is giving him a bit of hope and a purpose.  
> Dumas-He's one of my favourite French authors and he probably gives Booker some kind of comfort to read something he would have read with his family as it came out.  
> Lleida-It is in the Pyrenees in Catalonia and what could be a neutral ground for them. Andy, Booker, and Nicky had been in Spain during the Civil War, so it makes sense to have a safehouse there.  
> Languages-I have a working knowledge of French, but for others, I either ran with common phrases from canon and Google. So apologies if it's not up to snuff.  
> Last: Thank you so much to all that are reading, commenting, and the kudos. Greatly appreciated and I hope you all continue to enjoy!


	3. I don't know why, but I wanna run away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deciding on a truce is the easy part. Getting the other party to come out to tell them is proving harder than Joe and Nicky had expected. With their Alpha instincts on alert, they decide to work on a plan to approach Booker.
> 
> Too bad Booker's own biology thwarted those plans, making everything simpler, yet much more complicated at the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few things: In this A/B/O verse, Alphas can go feral if they are near an Omega they are close to or have imprinted on. Their instincts will be to claim the Omega by giving them a marking bite and mating them. Only very strong Alphas can resist their insticts fully. Their teeth shift and they become possessive and agressive. While they are in this mindset, they're not fully in control, so there is a bit of dub-con in regards to how they behave and treat Booker. No lines crossed though.
> 
> Omegas need a pack and to feel safe in order to have a successful pregnancy. If they don't have this, their bodies will go in a distress heat with the explicit aim to have an Alpha provide this by claiming them. This is done by their mating glands being bitten. This creates a low-level bond between the Alpha and Omega. Mulitple Alphas can claim an Omega, but it's rare due to their possessive natures. 
> 
> They're closer to their animal traits and since Booker has been dormant for years, it will be much worse now that his biology is back on line, making even experienced Alphas like Joe and Nicky to go haywire.

Joe and Nicky found that it was far easier to decide to put their animosity of Booker aside than to actually create a plan to rekindle their relationship. And to approach the Omega to put it in action. 

Despite appearing to not notice Booker’s efforts to stay out of their way, they were keenly aware of how much work Booker was putting in to avoid them. It was both admirable and sad to them how well Booker was doing at avoidance, even though they were sure his instincts were screaming at him to do otherwise instead. 

Considering that _their_ instincts to protect and soothe the Omega were only just under control with that brief encounter, they could only imagine what kind of a time Booker was having. That knowledge was what pushed them to approach Booker and bring some kind of balance back before Andy and Nile returned, their recon taking longer than expected.

But approaching him was something that they were still working on. They didn’t want to corner him in his room, since Booker had more or less frozen the last time they had been in there. And requesting for him to meet with them was out of the question since the same problem of it looking like a possible ambush to the Omega appeared. 

They hadn’t come up with a decent plan at least until Joe was sure that Booker watched games in the sitting area. Joe suspected it, but didn’t get proof until one day that he and Nicky had gone out for supplies. They had come back in time to hear a door slamming and the tv still on the game recap when Joe went to check the sitting area. 

He was slightly hurt by Booker basically bolting in order to avoid him, so he started formulating his next strategy. Once he figured out Marseilles' next match, he opted to simply write Booker an invitation and hope for the best. 

If Booker wouldn’t meet with them formally, a game would be the next best thing. Even if they didn’t get around to having a serious conversation, just sharing the space and doing an activity that they both had enjoyed together would be a small start.

It should have been a simple plan and a simple solution. Well, it would have been if Booker kept to his habits of never missing a Marseilles game. And so far, it wasn’t looking like he was going to appear. 

“I would be impressed if I wasn’t so annoyed, to be quite honest,” Joe commented as they sat in the living room, him with his sketchbook and Nicky with a book as they waited for Booker to emerge from his bedroom. 

Nicky only huffed a laugh as he lazily turned a page, “Well he _did_ learn from the best, _amore_. You can’t be annoyed, he took his lessons to heart.”

Joe growled softly at that. “Still. It’s nearly four and he’s not come out once. Surely he can’t stay in his room _all_ day! Not on game day!”

He pulled out his phone to double-check the schedule and sure enough, Marseille was due to start playing. So why was Booker AWOL still? Joe really hoped that this wasn’t going to be a bust and that they could use this time to start mending the breach between them. Yes, he and Nicky were struggling with the anger that was still there, but one that didn’t burn as bright or as deeply as it had two months ago. 

Last week, after seeing Booker in the throes of his nightmares, finding the blankets, and how Booker himself looked...Joe’s anger had cooled. 

He couldn’t stay angry when he recalled the way Booker had _fled_ from him and Nicky, clutching at a pillow and not looking up as he apologised for disturbing them. The way his voice was so low, so ragged, and exhausted when he spoke and the way he wouldn’t look at them hurt Joe in a way he wouldn’t have ever imagined. He never imagined that it would hit so hard to see Booker like that. And to find out that he was sneaking their scents to self-soothe, well, that had been the last blow to his resolve to actively stay angry. 

Nicky hadn’t said much after he had suggested the truce and had instead, busied himself looking up information on Omegas and pregnancy. If they were going to make this work, Nicky wanted to be prepared since he had no real experience in taking care of Omegas. And the last thing he wanted to do was unintentionally harm Booker or the baby. 

Nicky only turned the page of his book and gave him a look. “ _Cuore_ , he’s still skittish. We have to be patient. And it’s not like we have given him any reason to believe we’d not mean him any harm.”

Joe cringed at that, knowing full well that he was being far too impatient and far too optimistic to hope that Booker would be completely on board simply because Joe had extended an invitation. 

Yet the Alpha part of him yearned for that to be the case. The idea of having Booker, with his flower and milk scent beside him was making his canines itch in a visceral _want_ that was completely foreign to him. It was so different from how he wanted his Nicky that he had to close his eyes and center himself before he did anything stupid. 

Like go to Booker’s room and drag him out to watch the game so he could scent him and mark him. 

He blinked at the abrupt turn his thoughts took and looked at Nicky, who was watching him curiously. Joe shook his head and smoothed down his trousers as he forced those thoughts down. He knew it was all Alpha instinct and he didn’t ever have to act on them. But they still disturbed him. 

It also made him wonder if his earlier feelings about Booker had to do with the fact that on some level, he had always known Booker’s secondary gender. And if he did, was that why the betrayal hurt even worse than it otherwise would have?

He frowned and shook his head, looking up in time to meet Nicky’s questioning gaze.

Joe swallowed and instead focused on the matter at hand. That could wait. Right now, talking to Booker was the priority. He and Nicky could untangle those feelings and thoughts later. 

“I know. I know. I can’t exactly expect him to jump up and go back to what we had, but even a note on the door telling us to fuck off would be nice,” Joe finally pointed as he checked his phone again. 

Nicky saw this and shook his head, finally putting his book down and standing up. He turned towards Booker’s room and looked back at his husband, who was watching him wide eyed. 

“Are you serious, Nicky?” Joe wondered, standing up despite himself. Nicky nodded. 

“Joe, _cuore_ , I haven’t seen you so agitated in years and it is starting to rub off on me. So before we both go feral, we might as well go to him. And if he rejects us, we try again.”

Joe wanted to disagree and wait for Booker to come to them, but Nicky’s eyes flickered, turning a light green and Joe changed his mind. He nodded, gesturing to the alcove where Booker’s room was. 

It looked like he wasn’t the only one whose instincts were on edge and if both of them lost control, well, Joe was sure that they would die a few times before they calmed down. 

He knew he was right when Nicky paused a few feet in front of Booker’s door and swore softly before he covered his nose with his sleeve. Joe only had a split second to wonder why Nicky was doing that when a waft of flowers and milk hit him. Despite the barrier of the door, it was strong enough to make his canines itch and lengthen. 

He turned away when he felt that happening and covered his nose with his shirt the same as Nicky was doing. He swore in French before hauling a frozen Nicky away to the sitting room, the closest room with open windows. They stood by the windows, breathing in the fresh air before they were able to come back to themselves. 

“Is that-”

Joe nodded grimly. “He’s gone into a distress heat. Again.”

Nicky swore, rubbing his nose roughly as if he could get rid of Booker’s scent like that. 

“So what do we do?” He asked, turning back to the book he was reading and flipping through it to find the answer. 

Joe swallowed hard as he tried to recall his seminars on Omega Health from the last time that he had studied medicine. 

When he finally recalled the solution, he swore, making Nicky look up from the text where he had found the answer. Which Joe was willing to bet was the same one he had come to.

And from the look on Nicky’s face, he wasn’t thrilled with the answer either.

“There’s no other way, then?” 

Joe shook his head. “That doesn’t involve Booker and his child dying? None.”

Nicky frowned and was about to speak when they both were struck by another wave of Booker’s scent.

Joe growled, rushing to Booker’s room. “Nicky, he doesn’t have time. When he’s safe, we can argue how bad of a decision this is. But right now, we need to help Booker and fast.”

Nicky bit off his own growl and followed his husband, all the while hoping that this wasn’t going to blow up in their faces and make a shit situation worse.

Joe got to the door first, pausing long enough to knock on it and call out to Booker to give him a heads up they were coming in. He waited a few seconds before he pushed on the door, surprise clear on his face as it opened easily. Had Booker anticipated needing help? Was that why the door hadn’t been locked?

Joe didn’t have time to ponder that for much longer as the thick wave of scent hit him smack in the face one more time, forcing him to breathe through his mouth as he looked for Booker. 

Nicky was right behind him, swearing as the scent hit him. Joe couldn’t blame him. It was exactly like standing in a lavender field in the high heat of July. He looked around the room, hoping that Booker was in the nest, but it was in disarray and empty. His desk was too, and Joe felt his heart speed up as he went further into the room. Had Booker fled? 

Nicky thought the same, shaking his head when he found Booker’s bag and laptop still on the desk. 

Joe frowned. Where had Booker gone? He turned and saw another door half open and the light on and the faint sound of water running. Nicky noticed that and gestured to Joe to look inside.

“Check the bath.” Nicky instructed as he moved to the messy nest to get it straightened.

Joe shot him a look, but did as he was told and pushed the door fully open. The scent was concentrated there and Joe groaned at how hard it hit him. His instincts reared up as he spotted the Omega huddled in the corner of the shower stall, shivering and naked under the faint spray of the shower. 

His skin was pink and Joe could taste him. His scent coated Joe’s mouth and his canines elongated as all he could think of was claiming the Omega in front of him. He would have, if Nicky’s voice hadn’t cut into the haze that Booker’s heat had clouded his mind in. He was grateful that Nicky was there to pull him back and get a hold of himself. 

He loved Nicky and yes, he did also care for Booker, but to force a mating on him due to both being under the control of their biology was a line he refused to cross. Things were complicated enough, he wasn’t going to add to them. So he scrubbed his face with the sleeves of his shirt, easing the scent and reached out to turn off the water.

He hissed at the iciness of it, realising it was a futile attempt by Booker to keep his temperature down. Joe looked down at the tiles and at seeing the pink streaks of blood, couldn’t help but to panic. 

Were they too late? Had Booker lost the baby? He didn’t stop to think, he only acted on instinct. 

“Nicky! He’s bleeding! Get the First Aid kit!” Joe bellowed as he reached out for the Omega, hauling him out of the stall and into his arms. 

Joe swore at the amount of heat radiating from Booker’s skin. He could also see the mating gland on the side of the Omega’s neck was swollen and painful looking and flaming hot to the touch. It was as if the Omega had been standing out in the middle of the desert in the afternoon. The water had done nothing to chill him and Joe knew they had to act fast. 

Booker squirmed and mewled and tried to fight back, his efforts slow and sluggish. Joe was able to stop his attacks, shifting him so that Booker’s face was tucked into Joe’s neck. He pressed the Omega’s face into his scent gland in an effort to ease the heat and calm him. It took a few moments before Booker scented Joe well enough to make him calm and lax. 

He mewled again, but this was a sound of contentment. His temperature went down just a bit and Joe hoped that Nicky would bring some water. Booker was dehydrated and as Joe carried him into the nest, he noticed the pink tinged slick staining his clothes. Joe swore, but didn’t move as he tucked Booker into the nest and laid down beside him, pulling him into his chest so his face was tucked into his neck.

He scented the Omega as much as possible, his own scent of mint and sandalwood subsuming the still strong floral milk scent. He didn’t touch the gland. That would be for later. He stroked Booker’s still wet hair and back over and over until the Omega was in a light doze and his scent light and sweet instead of cloying and overpowering. It had a slight tinge of Joe’s own scent which was a relief to the Alpha. 

That was how Nicky found them, lying in a slow doze when he returned with the kit and bottles of chilled water. 

“How is he?” Nicky murmured, kneeling beside the nest on the bed, but not coming closer. 

“Better. He’s dehydrated. He was slicking up and maybe bleeding earlier. Can you check him over?” Joe asked, continuing to soothe a near comatose Booker, who had chirped unhappily when Nicky gave him a cursory examination.

“He’s still slicking and it’s tinged pink, but no blood. He’s got a temperature, but he’s thankfully not overheating anymore. The baby’s heart sounds strong from what I can tell. I don’t know where- Right!” Nicky exclaimed, holding up one of Booker’s hands to reveal blood still encrusted under his fingernails and showing it to Joe. 

Joe sighed at that, feeling both relieved and saddened at the sight. Booker wasn’t losing the baby, but he had injured himself badly enough and had drawn that much blood. He understood then that Booker, despite knowing the risks, had fought to keep himself under control and not launch himself at the Alphas. And that knowledge was enough to make his heart hurt even further.

He looked at Nick and he could see the sadness in his husband’s eyes as he lowered Booker’s hand. Or tried to. Booker’s hand wrapped around his wrist tight enough for Nicky’s eyes to widen in surprise.

“Stay, Alpha. Stay.” Booker rasped, his eyes opening up just enough to fix Nicky to the spot and make Joe blink at both of them. Surely Joe would have been enough! Or was Booker so far gone that he needed two Alphas to claim him? Or could he-

“I’ll stay, _Libretto_. I’ll stay,” Nicky soothed him, moving closer and shifting around so that Booker’s back was pressed against his chest, the kit and water laid on the nightstand for later. 

It was only then that Booker’s grip loosened and Nicky was able to grab a bottle of water. Joe positioned a loose limbed Booker so that he was able to take several sips of water. It wasn’t enough, but Nicky took the bottle away, recapping it and putting it on the stand. 

_“We have to claim him. He’s far gone, love.”_ Nicky murmured in their private language as he pushed Booker’s wet hair out of his face. 

He stroked Booker’s slack face and cursed as the Omega, despite being ruled by his instinct, pushed his face into Nicky’s hand. It hurt in a way that he didn’t think it would be possible. Booker in his right mind wouldn’t have dared to blatantly ask for affection, yet in the throes of heat delirium all of his inhibitions were gone. He wanted Nicky and he wanted Joe. 

And Nicky wanted to both laugh and weep at the horrible timing of it all. 

Maybe in another time, in another scenario where Booker hadn’t betrayed them, this would have been the start of hopefully something as long lasting as he and Joe already had. 

Now, it was yet another impossible choice needed to be made to keep Booker from completely self-destructing and being completely lost to them.

“ _How? Will both of us have to mate him? Mark him in all ways?”_ Joe whispered back, his hand brushing against Booker’s gland, making the Omega moan at the contact.

Nicky nodded. 

“ _I know, amore, this is not the way you wanted our first time with Libretto to be. But as with so many things, we have to do the best with what we have now, and figure out the rest later.”_

Joe frowned, stroking Booker’s gland which made the Omega push into him and slick gush out to soak the nest and Nicky’s trousers. It also made Nicky harder than he had ever been in his life and his canines burst through his gums, making him yelp at the sudden pain.

Booker mewled in turn, pressing his ass against Nicky’s crotch. Joe growled, his instincts screaming at him to claim the Omega as his. He had been the first one to touch the Omega. It was only fair he’d get the first taste.

And the first taste was exactly what he was going to get. 

His body moved without input from his mind and he found himself yanking the Omega away from the other Alpha and biting down hard on the Omega’s neck, making him scream.

Joe didn’t let go as the Omega under him went completely limp, his legs spread in clear invitation. 

Yet Joe held back, extremely frayed control holding him back enough to not do that. As much as his instincts shouted at him to go ahead and do so, he couldn’t. Not when he was aware of the nascent bond starting.

Joe could feel Booker’s yearning for him and Nicky, and his reluctance to reach out. He could sense the heat receding and he could sense Booker’s dawning realisation he wasn’t alone in his nest and that there was a bond fighting to solidify between them.

It was struggling to cement itself, but it was missing a piece. It was missing-

Joe heard Booker’s high pitched cry again and his vision went black as the last missing piece clicked into place, the bond complete. 

When he was able to see once again, he found himself looking at a completely lucid and horrified Booker, with his beloved Nicky utterly shell-shocked at what had just transpired.

Joe licked his lips, tasting blood while Booker tentatively prodded at the mating bites on either side of his neck.

Nicky sighed heavily and passed Booker the bottle of water. 

“Drink, _Libretto._ ”

Booker took the bottle and drank down nearly half of it before handing it back to Nicky. 

“I did. Now what?”

“Now we get you to a doctor and then we figure this all out,” Joe replied, slipping out of the nest and holding a hand out for Booker to take. “Let’s get you dressed.”

Booker closed his eyes briefly before he took Joe’s hand. 

“All right.”


	4. What have I become? Truth is nothing yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Booker out of danger, they decide the best thing to do is make sure everything is as is should be. A simple enough task that reveals more issues that need to be addressed between them. Issues that get more complicated by more unexpected news.

Half an hour later had Joe leaning against the doorway of their room, arms crossed in front of his chest as he watched Nicky gently press square dressings on each of Booker’s claiming bites. They had mostly healed, but still looked raw enough to be painful and the last thing that they needed was for the clinic to think Booker was an abused Omega claimed against his will. 

The idea had made his stomach clench painfully when Nicky had explained the logic to both him and Booker, since both had just wanted to throw some clean clothes on and get the baby checked out. Booker would be fine now that the heat had been taken care of. 

They couldn’t have the same certainty about the baby. 

Nicky knew that was going to be Joe’s next argument, so he cut it short before his husband tried to get started. 

“I’m concerned about the baby also. Believe me. But trust me when I say that the last thing we need is for the authorities to get involved. Think of it, both of you. What would you think if you saw an Omega in this condition?” Nicky asked, making any protests Booker and Joe had dry up once they understood what Nicky was telling them.

Especially after he tilted Booker’s head side to side to show how the sluggishly healing bites looked. Booker could see the reflection in the dresser mirror and had only nodded. Nicky was right, of course.

If either of them saw an Omega looking like Booker did, they wouldn’t hesitate to end the Alpha responsible. 

“You made your point. No one would believe I wasn’t being abused after seeing those,” Booker noted dryly, wincing slightly when Nicky sat him down on the bed to finish the task at hand.

After that, Joe gave in and waited for Nicky to finish bandaging Booker’s neck, noting how gentle Nicky’s hands were as they worked at the task. Despite having been on the receiving end of Nicky’s administrations many times over the years, Joe was still transfixed by the gentleness in his hands. He watched as Nicky touched Booker’s neck and the way that his long fingers moved and the dexterity of them as they tied off the gauze keeping the dressings covered. It was mesmerising to watch him work. 

It was also mesmerizing to watch how much Booker _trusted_ Nicky to take care of him. How he let Nicky touch him, not shying away from him when Nicky gently stroked his cheek before helping him to his feet. Something that the old Booker wouldn’t have ever allowed.

As much as it was heartwarming, it also made him uneasy. Booker was _never_ that pliant. Not even in the depths of depression and drunkenness did he allow anyone to take care of him. Or let himself be that vulnerable. It wasn’t like _him_ and Joe didn’t like it.

He tried to recall if there was any biological reason as to why Booker was like this, but nothing came to mind. He was aware that Alphas helped soothe skittish Omegas, but not like this. Not to the point of this much passivity.

Nicky caught Joe’s eye and raised an eyebrow, clearly asking what the problem was. Booker’s eyes were half-closed and he was more or less leaning against Nicky’s chest and missed Joe’s expression. Nicky’s mouth pressed itself into a thin line when Joe looked at the tired Omega and then back at Nicky. 

He gave a small nod in acknowledgement of Joe’s concern, then briefly shook his head. It wasn’t the time. Later.

Joe rubbed his face and looked away for a moment to compose himself lest Booker look up and get a hint of what they were discussing with those minute gestures of theirs. 

It took him a moment or two more before he pushed his misgivings down and instead turned to his mates. “Shall we go then?”

Nicky looked at Booker, who nodded despite still having his face buried in Nicky’s chest. He pulled away with effort, clearly not keen on having to do so. His face was still pale and he looked like he could keel over and pass out with little encouragement.

“ _Libretto?_ Are you okay to go?” Nicky murmured, pulling him close again and scenting him slowly and lightly. 

Joe kept watch, wondering if he should step in and add his own scent when Booker finally was able to shake off the lethargy. It only took Nicky a few passes before the scenting took effect and the effect seemed instantaneous.

It was as if Booker had taken a shot of caffeine, the exhaustion gone and his colour returned. His eyes were bright and clear and piercing and Joe had to ask himself exactly when was the last time he had seen Booker look like that. A very long time, he realised. Far too long.

“Yeah. Now I am. We’ve delayed long enough, I think,” Booker rasped out roughly, ending Joe’s train of thought.

This rapid change and the sound of Booker’s voice made Joe’s unease rise again. Not that he begrudged Nicky taking the initiative to look after Booker’s health. Far from it. 

What worried him was how much Booker needed touch and scenting. It wasn’t normal. Not from what he remembered and they needed answers as to why this was the case. 

“I’ll drive. You both can sit in the back,” Joe replied, checking for his mobile and keys which were thankfully in his pockets.

“Sounds good to me, _hayati_. How about you, _Libretto?_ ” Nicky asked Booker, who only nodded. 

“Works for me. Won’t hear me complaining,” Booker replied as they finally headed out.

~*~*~*~

Joe pulled into the parking lot of the small hospital and eyed it warily. It wasn’t what he was expecting a hospital to look like and he actually found himself wondering if they’d be able to give Booker and the baby a proper check. 

Lleida was a big enough city, but what if there was something wrong with the baby? What if their claiming of Booker had hurt _him_? What if-

“You don’t have to come in with me. I can go in alone, if it bothers you that much,” Booker’s quiet voice interrupted his fretting, making Joe turn around and look at Booker.

Nicky also shifted to look at Booker, clearly concerned and slightly hurt at his comment.

“What do you mean, _Libretto_? Why would it bother us? Don’t you want us with you?” Nick wondered quietly. 

Joe was glad that Nicky had taken the initiative, since he wouldn’t have been able to speak without spilling all of his hurt into his words. He had thought that Booker had learned after the heat to ask them for help. To not have to shoulder things himself and lean on him as he had done with Nicky. So why was he back to pushing them away?

Booker took a deep breath before exhaling, clearly trying to center himself before he explained. “I do. Believe me. I just don’t want for you to be triggered when we go inside. It’s only been what? Two months and some since Kozak tortured you in the lab? I don’t want for you to relive that shit again. Once was bad enough.”

Nicky and Joe only stared at each other, both stricken when they heard Booker’s reasoning. Despite being under the influence of hormones and the after effects of the claiming, he was still able to pick up on Joe’s wariness and Nicky’s unease. And like any good Omega, was trying to ease their past hurts and not create any new ones.

Joe rubbed his face and Nicky swore softly. They both definitely needed to learn to communicate more than just non-verbally if they were going to be able to get anywhere with Booker. That was for certain. 

“Oh no. No. Booker, no. No. I was holding back because I was worried that they wouldn’t be able to help you. Or the baby. Merrick’s Lab was the farthest thing from my mind,” Joe assured Booker, the words spilling from his lips in a torrent meant to reassure him. He couldn’t bear that Booker had misunderstood him, so he wanted to be explicitly clear. It was why he found himself reaching out impulsively and squeezing his Omega’s shoulder. 

Booker’s eyes widened at the touch, but he didn’t shake it off. He sighed softly, savouring the touch before turning to Nicky, who was watching with suspiciously bright eyes. 

“Nicky?” Booker whispered, snapping the Alpha’s attention back to him. “You’re good also?”

Nicky smiled, brushing some of Booker’s hair back and tucking it behind his ear. “I am.”

Booker’s face flushed pink at the touch and he had to clear his throat, breaking the moment and sending all of them into action. 

They crossed the parking lot with Booker in the middle, Joe on his left and Nicky on his right. Joe knew it wasn’t their usual formation, but that was before when Booker wasn’t pregnant. It was again the instincts, something that all of them understood, but Booker looked unhappy about. To his credit, he didn’t make a fuss and let himself be guided by Joe and Nicky to the reception desk. 

Joe held back as he watched his Nicky deal with the nurse. His Spanish was passable, but Nicky and Booker had more knowledge due to them being in the country during the Civil War. The situation with the nurse was touch and go due to her alarm when she noticed Booker’s neck and shot off a deluge of questions at Nicky. Booker only watched, clearly not pleased at being left out of the conversation, but said nothing as the nurse accepted their answers and filled out the paperwork fast.

Luckily, the intake didn’t take that long. Soon enough they found themselves in an examination room painted in tones of soft blues and greens, including the examination table, chairs and cupboards, waiting for the doctor. 

Who thankfully came quickly, since Joe wasn’t sure if he could have stood there in that charged room any longer than he absolutely had to. And going by the expressions on Booker and Nicky’s faces, they felt the same.

If the doctor, a tall, rangy Omega male named Dr. Ramos noticed anything, he didn’t show it. He simply came in, introduced himself and asked Booker directly what the issue was. 

“I went into a distress heat earlier today and I’m worried about the health of my baby. I also haven’t had any other check-ups so I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry,” Booker explained to the doctor, playing the sheepish Omega up as best as he could.

Dr. Ramos nodded as he noted it down on the chart pinned to the clipboard he carried. 

“And the gentlemen with you? Which one is your Alpha?” the doctor asked, his brown eyes darting back and forth between Nicky and Joe as if either one of them would just show him the answer. 

Booker cleared his throat at the question, “They’re both my Alphas. The heat...It didn’t stop when one claimed me. So both of them had to do it.”

Dr. Ramos’ eyebrows shot up at that, his pen pausing it’s scratching once Booker finished. 

“How long ago did this claim happen? Could you show me?” 

Joe and Nicky exchanged a glance at the question, but decided to wait and see what the doctor would do once Booker showed him the mating bites. But just in case, Nicky subtly shifted towards the door while Joe took his hands out of his pockets as casually as he dared. Booker caught the movement as he unwound the bandages, but gave no hint of it as he peeled the dressings off.

The doctor swore softly under his breath as he got closer to examine the bites. He reached out to touch them, but a warning growl from Nicky had him hovering his hands over them instead. 

“When did you say the claiming happened?” The doctor asked Booker, who helpfully tilted his head back and forth as the doctor indicated. 

“A few hours ago? I couldn’t say for sure. Being in heat and all.” Booker replied flatly, making Dr. Ramos laugh at that.

“I deserved that. Sorry, it’s just that they are _very_ well healed. You don’t often come across mating bites that clean. It usually takes weeks or months for them to get this way. Or high compatibility. But the jury’s out on that one…” 

Booker raised an eyebrow and Joe had to look away while Nicky smirked at the how the doctor got distracted in his own head before finally coming back to the matter at hand.

“Right. Forgive me for that interlude. Yours is the second time I’ve come across this situation. It was in my residency days, so it took me a bit to recall the actual circumstances.” 

Joe frowned, “What were the circumstances, Doctor?”

Dr. Ramos turned to Joe, leaving Booker to rub the bites under Nicky’s watchful gaze.

“It was a...somewhat precarious arrangement between two Alphas and an Omega. They were with the Omega during a heat and separated. The Omega ended up needing the two Alphas to stop a miscarriage because he was carrying both their children,” Dr. Ramos explained, pushing his longish brown hair back behind his ear as he told the tale. 

“So you think this is what happened with us?” NIcky asked, his stomach dropping at the implication. Joe’s frown deepened, and Booker looked as if he was turned to stone at the news, his eyes focused inward as if he could look inside and confirm the situation for himself. 

The doctor nodded. “I’d have to examine you to confirm it, of course. If you’re all okay with that?”

Booker nodded, as did Nicky and lastly Joe. Ramos gave Booker a reassuring smile and directed him to lie down on the table as got gloves and some other bits of equipment ready. Joe and Nicky moved back to let him work, both watching him like a hawk. 

Booker sent them a nervous smile as he pulled up his shirt and pushed down his jeans when he was directed to by the doctor. Once he was exposed, he kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He knew if he dared to look at Joe and Nicky, he’d start to remember Kozak's lab and that was the last thing he needed. He stared at the ceiling as the doctor examined him, which was thankfully and mercifully quick.

Ramos asked a few questions about his heat and cycles before he pulled away from Booker and stripped his gloves off. He pulled a machine closer and pulled another pair of gloves on before continuing. 

“As far as I can tell, everything looks good. But just in case, I’d like to do an ultrasound to make sure.” The doctor explained to Booker, who had finally stopped looking at the ceiling and nodded, his curiosity winning over his discomfort. 

He was so caught up watching the affable doctor set up the machine that he didn’t notice Joe and Nicky coming closer until Joe was holding his hand and Nicky hovered by his feet.

“We’re right here, Booker,” Joe murmured, making Booker give him a watery smile back before Ramos started moving the ultrasound wand over Booker’s abdomen. He muttered to himself for a few moments, before he smiled. 

“Found the little beans and here is what their hearts sound like,” Ramos added as he flicked a switch and soft whooshing sounds filled the room. 

Booker squeezed Joe’s hand at the sound. Despite having had three children, Booker hadn’t ever had the chance to know them like this before they were born. He couldn’t quite see the babies on the screen, but he could hear their heartbeats and-

“Did you say hearts? As in more than one?” Booker asked hoarsely. 

Joe’s hand tightened around his hand and Nicky went still as they waited for the answer. Surely it wasn’t possible! Surely-

“Yes. You see here and here?” Dr. Ramos asked, pointing to the greyscale screen, “those are your babies. Congratulations, Mr. Le Livre. You’re having twins.”

Booker blew out a breath as he nodded, taking the news well. He had his suspicions the moment that he had started to gravitate towards Nicky’s scent when he was surrounded by Joe’s. It had been enough at the beginning, but ever since they had entered his room and kept him supplied with their scents Booker found he needed Nicky’s also. 

Then the heat itself, hitting him harder than he ever recalled. Joe’s bite hadn’t been enough. He wouldn’t ever tell them that for a split second, he had honestly thought he and the child would die. His heart had stopped for a moment, but Nicky had brought them back.

He had been worried sick his children had been harmed, so getting the proof they were fine lifted massive amounts of guilt off his shoulders. He was ridiculously relieved that nothing was amiss with his pregnancy or his children. _His children_. He got a bit light-headed at the thought. His children. He found himself smiling despite the tears that prickled at his eyes when he thought about them. 

It was nothing like he had ever planned or expected to ever happen to him again after his heats went dormant. Nor had he ever expected to conceive his children in a lab. Or have their fathers be Nicky and Joe. That...well...If he was honest with himself, wasn’t something he examined too closely in the last couple of months. He couldn’t bear to.

Not when their connection was both so complicated and so damned tenuous at the same time.

He was still supposed to be doing penance for his betrayal and Nicky and Joe were together. The heat, the bonding, and now the knowledge that they both were fathers were more complications. Ones that Booker hadn’t a clue how to even begin approaching. 

“Amazing, isn’t it? To see our children like this,” Joe’s soft voice pulled Booker away from his musings and he squeezed Joe’s hand.

“It is. I never thought this would ever happen again, you know?” Booker murmured, prompting Joe to look at him. An expression flitted across his face, too fast for Booker to decipher before Joe leaned over and kissed his forehead. 

“I know. We both do, Sebastien. Despite everything, we know, Joe assured him quietly, his lips close to Booker’s ear and his breath making him whimper softly with a want he couldn’t quite identify.

“We’re going to have to talk when we get home. About this. About-”

“I know. There will be enough time for that. Right now, let’s focus on our children. This is their time. Ours will come all too quickly,” Joe interrupted, giving him a gentle smile that gave Booker a small bit of hope that things weren’t as shot as he thought.

“All right. Let’s do that instead,” Booker agreed, turning back to Nicky, who smiled at him so tenderly that Booker nearly stopped breathing. 

“ _Oh shit. I’m properly fucked now,”_ was all he could think as he smiled back. _“Properly fucked.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joe and Nicky- They're concerned as they should be, since they've not seen anything like this before and they're concerned about Booker. They're running on instinct and the bond's chemicals so their mate and children are their main concern. The rest can be dealt with later. It doesn't mean they've forgotten, but they're not as distant as they were in the past. 
> 
> Booker-He's got a bit more control over himself, but he's not quite his logical self. He's hormonal and his instincts are making him contemplate the situation and go off in random directions. Plus the news has him frazzled and with no actual plan yet. Hence him being happy to put off the conversation, which is coming. Maybe too soon. 
> 
> Dr. Ramos-A nod to Sergio Ramos, who he is loosely based on. Also, thank you to all that have taken a chance on this story, given kudos, and sent lovely comments! They're greatly appreciated!!


	5. I said some things I should have never said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicky, Andy, and Nile return from the mission and Nicky's worried about Joe and Booker. Having had to leave abruptly before they could talk, things are understandibly tense and fragile. Now they're back Nicky and Joe are determined to settle things with Booker and figure out a workable solution for their future. Booker agrees, yet his solution leads to a hard fought and tenuous agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not going to lie that this one is a bit rough in that there are hard conversations to be had and the past being mentioned. Non-con is also mentioned, re Booker's experience at the Lab. Not graphic, but wanted to warn people because this is a heavy chapter. Loads of examining insides and coming to some kind of resolution.

Joe wasn’t surprised when Nicky was the first through the door, with Nile and Andy following at a much slower pace. Andy was limping and grimacing while Nile carried their equipment inside. Joe only had time to give them cursory nods, trusting that Nile would take care of Andy while he dealt with Nicky.

Nile took the hint, nodding to them as she ushered a tired Andy to her room, closing the door behind them. Joe was glad that she thought of giving him and Nicky some privacy.

They embraced first, enjoying being in each other’s arms for the first time in a month. Joe held onto him as tightly as he could, silently relieved that he had come back more or less in one piece. Despite it having been nearly four months since the labs, Joe still had that fear lurking in the back of his mind. So he savoured holding Nicky, who smelled like sweat, gunpowder, and travel but it didn’t matter. He had missed his husband keenly and was glad to have him back. Everything would be alright now that Nicky was here with them.

They embraced for a long time, scenting each other and trading lazy kisses before they pulled away, Nicky smiling warmly at the welcome.

“I’ve missed you, _cuore,_ ” Nicky murmured, running his hand through Joe’s curl and earning a tired smile from his husband. 

“As I did you, _hayati,_ ” Joe paused, making Nicky’s brow furrow, “And _Libretto,_ even if he doesn’t say as much,” Joe replied. Nicky nodded, his smile falling from his face at that.

“Where is he? Is he doing better? The babies?” Nicky asked Joe, moving in the direction of Booker’s room. Joe reached out to stop him. 

“He’s doing okay. The babies too, all things considered. He’s in our room napping,” Joe explained apologetically. He wouldn’t have stopped Nicky normally, but last night had been a rough night and Booker needed all the sleep he could get. 

Nicky’s reply was a heavy sigh that Joe himself echoed. “His nightmares came back with a vengeance. 

Nicky swore quietly and shook his head, “I was afraid that would be the case. I got hints of it through the bond. We can’t leave it like this between us for much longer, _cuore_.”

Joe himself sighed. “I know. The sooner the better. We put it off for too long.”

Nicky sighed, roughly running his hands through his hair and wincing at the tackiness of his dirty hair. Joe noticed and led him to the bathroom before their room. 

“Shower first. Then we talk. I know you’re worried, but Booker will keep. And the last thing we need is for him to get nauseous from the scent of you.”

Nicky laughed quietly as he allowed himself to get shepherded into the bathroom despite the low level anxiety thrumming through his body in response to Booker’s malaise.

From the infrequent messages they had exchanged and the bond itself, Joe was aware of how concerned Nicky had been. Particularly about leaving them both behind when everything was still up in the air. But Andy and Nile needed a point man and so he left, promising a swift return. 

Despite being alive for a millenia, he should have known better than to make such a promise. And Joe himself knew he shouldn’t have accepted it. They both knew plans and missions went awry. 

Joe knew, yet he still let himself hope that it would be different this time and Nicky would be back soon so they could figure this all out between them. 

Before, things would have been so simple between him and Booker. They could have sat down and gotten it all out during a football match when Nicky was gone. If he needed to talk to Nicky, Booker would make Madeleines and strong coffee, and they would sit in companionable silence until they were ready to speak. It was simpler then, when the shadow of betrayal and unspoken love lay between them.

It was a mess, Joe could admit it, regretfully leaving Nicky to shower by himself. They had put it off too long and him joining his husband in the shower would take too long. Later, Joe promised himself as he moved silently to their room to fetch clean clothes for Nicky. He hoped Booker was still asleep when he did, which was the case when he glanced over his shoulder to check on their Omega. 

Booker was lying on his side, his head on Joe’s pillow and Nicky’s blanket wrapped around him. He held Nicky’s pillow loosely and he was breathing deeply and regularly, lost in a much needed sleep. The shadows under his eyes weren’t as dark as they had been two weeks ago, when Joe had finally managed to coax him to bed. 

Joe watched him sleep for a few moments, relieved that he had taken the initiative instead of letting Booker be. It had been tricky, since he didn’t want to force Booker to do anything. Yet Booker didn’t have the best track record of taking care of himself and being pregnant hadn’t changed matters. And Joe was done looking the other way. 

They had tried having Joe sleep in Booker’s bed- well, _nest_ \- but Booker still woke up at least twice a night and stumbled to the bathroom to throw up. The taste of the saltwater was making him sick and he was having problems keeping food down. Joe put his foot down after three nights of this and coaxed Booker to nest in his and Nicky’s bed. 

As much as he was loath to pull Booker from his nest, he wasn’t about to stand on the sidelines and watch the Omega suffer. Joe did his research and figured that it was worth the gamble, scenting everything and finding some of Nicky’s dirty towels and blankets to help Booker feel at home. It did the trick and Booker had settled in, purring quietly before falling asleep and missing the thoughtful look on Joe’s face. 

Joe’s lips thinned as he watched Booker, emotions high as he gently shut the door and left the clothes on the toilet. He headed to the kitchen and put the kettle on, then hunted up their mugs and some tea. He looked in the cupboards, brow furrowing as he noticed the tupperware container he was positive hadn’t been there two days ago. Curious, he pulled it out, opening it to reveal about a dozen fresh Madeleines. He shook his head, laughing quietly as he closed the cupboard and placed them on the table. 

“Madelines? How did Booker know?” Nicky asked, moving past Joe to delicately take one out and pop it in his mouth, closing his eyes in bliss as he chewed and swallowed. 

“Still as good as I remember. _Libretto_ hasn’t made them in years,” Nicky noted, his tone wistful as he recalled the last time that Booker had casually presented him with Madeleines as he read. He frowned as he picked up another one, trying to place when it had been the case. 

Was it Oslo? Or Medellin? Sydney?

“Buffalo. Five years ago,” Joe replied, pouring out hot water into the mugs and handing Nicky one. 

“Ah! Right!” Nicky exclaimed, taking his tea and sitting down at the table. He frowned at the Madeline, dunking it into his barely steeped tea before taking a bite. 

“It was so gradual, wasn’t it? Him pulling away until we didn’t notice the distance. The few things he knew we wouldn’t miss. The silences about his nightmares. Exactly how deep the grief over his family really was,” Nicky shook his head and finished the Madeline, “I have to admire how well he hid it all. How he never let us see how lonely and despairing he was.”

He chewed on his lip before he continued, “He was right in that we didn’t know. He never said and we never asked. And yet I still want to throttle him for what he did, yet I want to hold him and love him as much as he’ll let me. And now I know I must think on how to forgive him, despite wanting to hurt him as much as they hurt you.”

Joe winced at the raw confession, but he understood the sentiment all too well. Hell, he had been struggling with it for the past two months as he discovered more and more of Booker’s secrets. His grief over his sons,his despair, and the feelings he held for both of them. He wanted to remain aloof, yet couldn’t when he sensed Booker’s misery and his instincts came out in full force. He wanted to make Booker understand how much his betrayal had hurt them. How horrific the torture had been not just on him, but on Nicky. 

The nightmares and the uncertainty his actions had caused, How he had to live with the memories of that lab and the memories of being helpless and unable to help his husband. All of it, he wanted for Booker to witness and understand. To break through the lies and selfishness inherent in his betrayal. 

Sometimes, when they were manning the comms and Booker was working, Joe got the sense that he maybe did. It was subtle, but the way that Booker’s gaze would pass by him, or when he would make coffee the way Nicky would make it, Joe felt that way. Or when he would wake from a nightmare and have Booker’s soft scent around him pulling him back to sleep.

He loved waking up to that milky floral scent. Loved waking up to see Basti’s relaxed face as he slept on. The way that he was softening as the pregnancy progressed. He knew he was starting to fan old infatuations, but still couldn’t stop.

And he still was angry over Booker’s actions and had no real answer for what to do next. 

“Then do it. If it will help ease the pain and the memories of my betrayal, do it, Nicky.”

Both Joe and Nicky whipped around in time to see Booker standing in the doorway of the kitchen area. His face sleep smudged and soft, contrasting with the burning blue light of his eyes as he looked at them. 

Nicky’s eyes flickered to Joe, who only stared back at Booker. 

“I know I fucked up so badly and I won’t make excuses for my actions. I don’t care if I live the rest of my days making it up to you in any way you chose. I hurt you both deeply and I want to make it right. All of it. So it’s up to you. Whatever you choose, I’ll do it.”

Joe and Nicky sat there for a few moments, staring at Booker before they shook their heads. 

“No, Basti. No. I won’t. I won’t do it because it won’t fix anything between us. Nor would sending you away, breaking the bond, or taking our children from you. None of that will work.”

Booker nodded, his gaze going to Joe. 

“Then what would you have me do to make it right? I have to do something! I don’t want to stay in this inertia, knowing that you’re hurt and angry and tied to me because of them!” he exclaimed, gesturing to the small curve of his abdomen visible under his shirt. 

“Be honest! Stop hiding and trust us!” Joe shouted, standing up so fast his chair smashed to the floor. Both Nicky and Booker jumped at the sudden sound, Booker taking a step back as well. 

“It’s true we didn’t know. We didn’t see, but you could have told us, Basti! We are your brothers! We could have tried to help! We wouldn’t have left you to suffer alone! We love you, Basti! We could have done something other than what ended up happening. That is what hurts as much as watching Nicky being tortured and you being violated on that table. That it had to come this.”

Booker blanched at the last bit, his gaze turning down to the tile and his arms wrapping around himself. 

“I deserved it, Joe. You and Nicky didn’t. Besides, you have the children, so at least there is that,” Booker finally whispers, prompting Nicky to stand up and wrap his arms around Booker. 

“Listen to me, _Libretto_ , You screwed up, but you never deserved that. No one does. And yes, we are thrilled that _you_ are having our children, but it doesn’t negate the fact that you never consented to _that_ . I won’t deny I’m hurting as is Joe and you will have to work to regain our trust, but it will never dim the love we have for these little ones and the love we have for _you_.”

Nicky’s hands cupped the back of Booker’s head and neck, making the Omega to look at him. Booker’s eyes swivelled from left to right, searching Nicky’s eyes for lies before he took a deep breath and nodded. The corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile at that.

Nicky returned the smile, turning at the last moment to welcome Joe into their circle. 

“I can’t say _when_ forgiveness will come, Basti. I can’t promise it will come in a year, five years, a decade, or more. But I can tell you that we can start working towards it. Just like we will work towards a mutual trust and possibly more. Alright Basti?”

Booker’s eyes filled with tears, his chin trembling. Damn hormones! And damn Joe for being so romantic and so good and so damned _kind_. 

Joe was looking at him with the same soft, warm gaze he always looked at Nicky. He turned to Nicky and found the same soft gaze aimed at _him_. Booker had watched them give each other that look for years and had at times been jealous, wistful, and longing. And now, after he had apologised and asked to make amends, after having his biology turned against him...It was finally aimed at him.

And Booker could only nod and collapse into their arms, his silent sobs muffled into Nicky’s shirt as Joe rubbed his back.

It was more than he deserved, yet he wouldn’t turn it away. 

He had loved his wife. Loved his children, but he saw as Joe and Nicky quietly led him back to their nest, it was time to let them go. They were gone, but he was alive. Nicky and Joe too. Andy for now, and Nile too. 

He had a family again and he had nearly lost them because of inability to let go. He wasn’t going to be a fool to ruin his second chance when this was all he wanted. To not be alone, to be seen, and to be known. 

Later, much later, he would cry and finally say the goodbyes he should have so long ago. Right now, he would sleep in his nest, with his two Alphas beside him. 

It wasn’t _quite_ fixed, but Booker was optimistic it eventually would be, no matter how long it took. 

That was his last drowsy thought as he was pulled back to sleep, lulled by the security of his Alphas around him.

~*~*~*~

Nile and Andy only looked at each other the moment that they heard the door to Joe and Nicky’s room close and silence fall upon the rest of the house. 

Andy sighed and laughed quietly, while Nile only shook her head. 

“Fucking finally. Took them long enough to get it figured out.”


	6. It Seems Too Much Went Wrong At Once

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nile and Booker dream again and they don't bode well for the team, who have only just gotten some much needed down and bonding time. This pushes them to make plans and fast, yet they're not fast enough.

_She knew she was dreaming, but couldn’t quite understand what she was seeing. The water, the briny taste of sea water. All of it was familiar. What she didn’t recognise was the marbled blues and greens. The creatures that swim near. The-_

Nile stirred awake, blinking a couple of times as she tried to untangle her dreams from her waking thoughts. She lay there for a few minutes, adjusting to her surroundings as the dreams faded out of her mind. She breathed deeply a few times focusing on her breathing until she was able to get out of bed, grab her caddy and head to the bathroom. Nile nodded at Andy, who was coming out of the steamy bathroom with her eyes half-shut and went inside. 

She looked at herself in the mirror and focused on getting ready for the day, the dream more or less forgotten. Yet the unease that came with the dream lingered. Her lips twisted unhappily as she reached for her toothbrush and toothpaste as she thought of what to do next. She knew what she had to do, yet she hated that she had to.

This dream was far different than the ones before. It was more detailed and showed her other things that Quynh wouldn’t have been able to see. At least according to Booker the last time they had sat to talk about them. 

“Do the dreams ever change? Do you always see the same thing when you have dreams?” Nile recalled as she had made them both chamomile tea. 

It had been a rough night for both of them. Nile had come back early at the behest of the Alphas while they tied loose ends. The mission had been a surprise and as much as Booker had assured them he would be fine, Nicky and Joe had been reluctant to leave him. 

The only way that they had finally managed was for Nile to promise to come back early and for Copely to keep an eye out if she couldn’t. 

Nile suspected that had been the reason why Joe and Nicky had done the brunt of the work and sent her off, leaving them with a bemused Andy to clear the rest. She didn’t mind, if she was honest. It had been a rough mission involving human trafficking and the nightmares had been relentless. 

Enough so that she couldn’t hide them. As much as she tried, she would always wake with Nicky’s eyes on her. Joe wasn’t always awake, but he did make sure to press a cup of strong coffee or tea for her the morning after. She needed it, she knew. It helped her stay in the game.

She also knew that they needed her to get back and check on Booker personally. She had caught the tail end of a conversation between them and Andy, putting enough details together to know they were worried. Maybe more than usual.

Nile understood. Without his usual coping mechanisms closed off to him, who knew what Booker would do to ease the nightmares. It had been a fraught trip up until the moment that she had knocked on the door and a tired, but still healthy looking Booker had answered. 

Nile _had_ hoped that now they were together the nightmares would cease. 

She knew her prayers were for naught when she was yanked out of her own nightmares by Booker’s scream, pulling them both out of bed and into the kitchen to make tea. 

It had started in the early months of Booker’s pregnancy, them making tea and talking about anything and everything to chase them away. Missions and then Booker being grounded both by the children and his Alphas had made them less frequent. But now that they were alone, it was a necessary ritual again. 

“ _Very necessary_.” Nile thought as she carefully handed Booker the brightly patterned mug she had picked up in Granada for him before wrapping her hands around her own yellow stoneware mug. She wasn’t cold, but the heat was soothing. 

Booker accepted the mug with a nod of thanks and sank back into the overstuffed chair that Nicky had moved to the dining area in Booker’s fifth month, when his back started to bother him. He sighed and shifted about until he got comfortable and it was then that he answered.

“Maybe how dark it is sometimes. But it’s usually the same loop of watching her drown, revive, fight, and drown again. Nothing different in two hundred years, as far as I can tell.”

Nile nodded, wondering if her own perceptions had bled into the nightmare, giving it an even worse feel than usual. She could have sworn that the rage was twice as strong and twice as sinister and the tinge of madness more pronounced. 

As she pondered this, Booker spoke up. 

“The feel of the dreams, though, now that I think about it _has_ been different,” Booker admitted, nodding to Nile when she looked at him, wordlessly asking to elaborate. 

“It was muted. Her horror and her anger. As if the ocean washed it away before I could feel the full impact of it in the nightmares. Something I am _most_ grateful for, believe me.” 

The smile was thin, but Nile got the idea and again, wondered at how strong Booker had to be to deal with that for centuries. And how he mostly did it alone without being driven insane. Not to say that he was the model of stability, but he was far better than he had any right to be, considering everything.

“But now...It’s worse. Like the volume turned up. Like it’s closer?” Booker mused, drinking his cooled down tea.

“Yeah. That’s why I asked. Do you think it means anything?” Nile mused. Booker shrugged. 

“I want to say no. That would be my first impulse. She has been there for half a millenia and nothing has changed. But after having those nightmares again and being flattened by her emotions…”

He looked down into his mug and swallowed hard. “I worry what she’ll do once she’s out.”

Nile recalled Booker’s quiet words and shivered. He hadn’t said much after that, too shaken up by the possibilities and implications of a possibly enraged and insane Quynh would mean to them.

“It’s just one damned thing after another, isn’t it?” she muttered to herself. If she brushed a little harder than she had to, well, no one was there to see or call her on it. She was frustrated, she could admit. It felt like even when they had downtime, there was still something undone looming in the back. 

Part of her-a _very_ small part-wanted to just forget about the dream and go on with her day. She had, after all, dreamed of all that before. Booker himself had for hundreds of years and carried on. So why should she even mention the dream? She was already spending far too much thinking of it. More than it deserved, if she was honest. 

Yet as she cleaned up, she knew she couldn’t let it pass. Groaning softly, she finished her routine and went straight to her room. She had enough time to get dressed still. She was _not_ going to have that conversation in her sleep sweats. Hell no. 

~*~*~*

_It was still cold, despite the sunlight filtering through the water. It was tiring. So tiring, but there was no question of stopping. Not now. There was a net floating just in reach. The cables were cutting into his hand, but he didn’t let go. Not when freedom was so close. Freedom and answers. And revenge-_

Booker bolted up from the nest, his heart beating so fast he thought it was going to burst out of his chest and with a scream locked behind his teeth. His hands were pressed against his mouth and tears streamed out of the corners of his eyes. Beside him, Nicky had sat up, his gun already out and aimed at any potential threats. On his other side, Joe jostled awake, a knife in his hand as he blearily looked about for a threat against his partners. 

He put it away once the scent of rotting milk and flowers hit him. Wrinkling his nose, he turned to Booker and saw him struggling to breathe. And nearly working himself into a panic attack. 

“Basti? Basti? You’re alright Basti. You’re alright. You’re alright,” Joe murmured while Nicky did the same. But Booker was still too panicked and sunk into his nightmare to fully respond. 

The Omega was panting and wheezing the tears flowing as he tried to not make a sound, yet a few whimpers escaped him. Joe looked at Nicky, who shook his head minutely before he focused on getting Booker calm before he passed out. 

“ _Libretto? Libretto?_ You need to breathe, _coeur._ Uncover your mouth for me, coeur and breathe. Breathe. Follow my breathing,” Nicky coaxed him, repeating the instructions over and over until Booker finally started doing the same, while Joe sat beside them, tentatively rubbing Booker’s back gently to offer some comfort, but not enough to overwhelm him or get in the way. 

They sat like that, with Nicky breathing slowly and deeply and Booker following until he had finally managed to regain some semblance of control. Joe pressed a kiss on Booker’s temple before he slipped out of the room, leaving Nicky and Booker alone. Booker took a shaky breath and all but collapsed into Nicky’s arms, burying his face into Nicky’s neck and inhaling deeply. 

They stayed like that, with Booker surrounding himself with his Alpha’s scent until his heart had slowed and he didn’t feel the soul sickening malevolence any longer. The chill of the water had receded and the bite of the net dissipated, leaving him sitting in Nicky’s embrace in their homey room. He could feel the softness of the nest and see the sketches Joe had put up. Nicky and Joe’s swords in the corner and his own desk with his laptop and books stacked on the edge. 

He was safe with his Alphas. He was home and his children-

“Ouch! Take it easy in there! I’m glad you’re active, but give your _pere_ a break, _hein_?” Booker groaned, putting a hand on the now prominent curve of his belly. At nearly six months, he was much bigger than he had recalled being with his first children and didn’t like it. Especially when he couldn’t find his shoes or needed help standing up after he was sitting or lying down. 

He felt like a beached whale, no matter what Joe or Nicky said about him looking beautiful and blooming. It was sweet of them to say, and it did go quite far in getting him out of that mindset when it struck. Even if he had days where he simply couldn’t get out of his nest and slept. He didn’t like being so tired and lethargic, but at least he had help and company to make those times bearable.

“They’re playing football again?” Nicky asked, putting his hand on Booker’s belly to feel the babies still jostling around. Booker grunted at a hard kick to his ribs. 

“Seems like it. My nightmares must have gotten them wound up,” Booker sighed, while Nicky peppered gentle kisses all over his face and hair in an effort to soothe Booker and hopefully the babies as well.

“Nightmares?” Joe asked, arriving in time to hear what Booker said. He helped Booker sit up and handed him the glass of water, sliding in to his left while Nicky moved his hand to push himself in a sitting position.

Booker nodded, taking the glass and downing a good half of it. Nicky frowned at that, gently rubbing Booker’s back. Joe pressed himself against Booker, scenting him gently to comfort him. Booker purred quietly at their efforts.

“Basti, have they been coming often? Are they about Quynh?” Nicky prompted gently, while Joe rested his cheek on Booker’s broad shoulder and waited. 

As much as they wanted Booker to explain it all, they had learned he would clam up if they prodded too much. He was tentative about opening up and the two Alphas decided they’d never push when their Omega was struggling to articulate his feelings. They knew how hard Booker was trying to be more open and honest with them, just as they were working to listen and to ask questions instead of leaving him as they would have in the past.

It wasn’t easy and they had their share of arguments and slammed doors. Or silence. But they were trying. Nile gave them a few websites and they had done their homework. Yet they were trying and with practice, it was becoming easier. Even if it was frustrating at times for Joe and Nicky. But they were willing to try and so they waited.

“They don’t come often since we bonded, but they get through at times when the bond is weakened,” Booker finally explained, his voice soft as if he was working it out himself.

Joe and Nicky frowned at that. They had suspected that them being away was not good for Booker and now they had proof. They exchanged a glance, making a decision before they focused on their mate. 

“What did you see this time?” Nicky asked quietly, his hand slowly rubbing Booker’s back lightly. 

Booker rubbed his face, sighing heavily. “I think she’s gotten free. And she’s looking for revenge.”

Joe opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a sharp knock at the door.

“Come in!” Nicky called out. The door was pushed open to reveal a worried Nile. 

Once she looked at Booker, who was still drawn from the nightmare, she groaned. 

“I had hoped it wasn’t anything, but now it’s true. She’s gotten loose, hasn’t she, Booker?”

~*~*~*~*~

“So what is the plan then?” Joe asked as they convened around the wooden dining table once Booker and Nile had filled the others in to what their dreams had shown them.

Andy sighed heavily and pressed her fingertips against her closed eyelids as she tried to work out exactly what Nile and the boys had just told her. She still couldn’t quite process the information and hoped that by taking a moment, she could process it and make a plan. 

As overjoyed as she was to know that Quynh was out of her prison, Andy was wise enough to know not to expect the same woman to come back. All those years and all those deaths...If she had been in the same position, Andy didn’t doubt she would be mad and enraged once she was free. 

As much as Andy longed to see her, to help her, to say all of the things she had so many years to think about...She had to think of the team. Of Booker and his children and of herself, the two weakest links of the team at the moment. ‘

“Do you think she knows I’m mortal now?” Andy asked, opening her eyes to look at Booker and Nile. Joe and Nicky sat across from them, warily watching and occasionally looking at each other as they made their silent plans as the conversation continued. 

Booker shrugged. “I wouldn’t be able to guess what she knows. I was drunk or high for most of two hundred years and now the bond is keeping me grounded so I don’t dream. I don’t know what she gets from me. Nile?”

Nile’s brow furrowed and she chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to recall if any of the dreams had focused on Andy or Booker. 

“I don’t know either. I don’t dream often. I couldn’t even _begin_ to guess what she knows,” Nile replied after several moments of dissecting her dreams and memories. 

“If she knows about Booker and the children, we need to lure her away from him,” Andy pointed out, making Booker frown and put his hand over his bump in a protective gesture. 

Joe and Nicky got closer to their Omega and Nicky wrapped himself around Booker, scenting him subtly while Joe put his hand on his shoulder, near the claiming mark. 

“We know a place. But where would that leave you?” NIcky asked softly. Andy raised her hands and gestured to the safehouse.

“Here. Or Maybe Are?” Booker frowned at that. 

“We’d be too far to help you if anything went tits up. Stuttgart would be better,” Booker suggested.

“She won’t be alone, Booker. I’ll go with her,” Nile added forcefully. 

They all turned to Andy, who was frowning down at the table at that last remark. They waited for a few minutes before they addressed her again.

“Andy?” Joe asked tentatively. 

Andy blew out a breath and nodded. “Fine. Nile, with me. Booker, you go with your mates. We leave in two days.”

They nodded and went off to start preparing for the moves when they heard several bangs and gas fill the house.

Joe and Nicky moved to get Booker out, while Nile tried to do the same with Andy. But it was too late.

“Oh for fuck’s-”

The rest was lost in the blast that tore through the house, leaving it nothing but smoking and broken rubble.

Andy’s ears were still ringing and she choked on the dust in the air from the bomb when she came to.

Blood dripped down her face and she could dimly hear screaming and what sounded like sirens. She impatiently wiped at her face and pulled herself into a sitting position slowly. She ached all over, but it was dull aches. Not the searing pain she was expecting. Huh. 

She didn’t have time to think about that since Nile’s hands were on hers pulling her up.

“You good?” Nile coughed out, waving her hands to dispel some of the concrete dust. 

“Yeah. Where are the boys?” Andy asked at the same time she heard Joe’s wail.

“BASTI! WHERE IS HE?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dreams-I'm really playing fast and loose with them, since we haven't really gotten major explanations about how much exactly they all can glean from each other. So they can see some stuff from each other, but not like whole scenes. Just enough to put stuff together.  
> Booker-He's much more grounded now that he's not perceiving himself to as alone as he was before, so he doesn't have as many nightmares. He's also sharing more and being listened to, so he's not as vulnerable. Or in as much need of booze and drugs. Chances are Booker did do all the drugs at some point. He just feels like he was smoked opium and drank absinthe a LOT.  
> Quynh-I still haven't *quite* decided how she will go in regards to personality and motives. Still plotting that bit out, but she's going to be grey.  
> Joe and Nicky-They're working through things, but haven't forgotten what went down with Booker. It's still VERY complicated. 
> 
> Thanks for all that are reading and commenting, I greatly appreciate it!


	7. If we can make it to the morning, we can get things right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Booker has more dreams and comes face to face with an old foe. The team is looking for answers and get a lead and a chance to make things right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for this chapter: kidnapping and unethical medical procedures (nothing super graphic), and some canon level violence and death. Most violence is off-screen except for the very end.

_The sea was churning and grey like it always was during the night. She knew this crossing. Had made it more times than he cared to count. The voices laughed and talked and worked in a dialect she hadn’t heard for years._

_The sea air was cold, but she was warm and well fed. She was breathing for the first time in centuries and it was calming. Her mind was still snarled and tangled, but she could make her way around in this brand new world._

_Her little brother had given her all she needed, in the dreams he’d not kept guarded._

_She turned her head and smiled._

_“Soon.”_

Booker came to the moment the last restraint was tightened around his chest. He winced, and moved a bit to test the bonds. He wasn’t amused to find out they had restrained his wrists and ankles as well. He heard a warning growl when he moved around so he stayed still. Instead of moving, he settled for watching his captors as they sat surrounding the stretcher he lay reclined on. 

He knew, from the gentle sway of the stretcher, they were driving him somewhere. The van looked like the one he had seen in Joe’s sketchbooks before the pages had been torn out and burned. The men as well, Booker recalled in a fleeting memory before it was gone.

They didn't look like any of the Guardia Civil or other Spanish specialist teams. Their uniforms and equipment were top of the line and expensive. Very expensive stuff that he himself had earmarked for the team. He also noticed that there was more Kevlar than necessary and they watched him with a wariness reserved for Alphas instead of pregnant Omegas. He shifted in bed and found guns aimed at him faster than he could blink.

He raised his hands in surrender, unable to do more with the heavy duty restraints they had him in and it was only then that the guns were lowered. Yet their eyes were still fixed on him, their fingers on their triggers as a silent warning to not try anything more. 

Booker lowered his hands and let himself smirk at them. He was tempted to make some smart remark about Alphas being afraid of pregnant Omegas, but held his tongue. There was something ugly in their eyes when they looked at him that made his stomach go cold. He'd seen that look in an Alpha's eyes before. And it usually preceded something horrific and painful for the Omega that it was aimed for. 

As much as his self-preservation was nearly non-existent, he loved his children and refused to take any risks to harm them. 

It had been the only reason why they had managed to capture him at all. He had fought, despite being blinded by the dust and disoriented by the blast. He had done his best, but had only managed to get one man down before he was grabbed and hit across the back of the head. 

It normally would have just stunned him, but with the blast, it was enough. They grabbed him easily then, jabbing him with a tranquilizer and then it was black. 

And now Booker was lying there, his mind racing as he tried to figure out who would bomb their safe-house and send a well-trained team of mercenaries after a pregnant Omega. He had a few guesses, but it wasn’t until one of the men shifted that he saw the sliver of a badge that looked familiar. Far too familiar than he cared to admit.

He forced himself to stay calm and not get worked up. It wasn’t good for the babies and the last thing he needed was to get a kick in the bladder and piss himself. Booker had no doubt that the Alphas would definitely leave him to lie in his own piss so he stayed calm. He didn’t dare close his eyes at this point. He couldn’t risk it. 

But he could focus on the dream and he could admit to himself that for once, the dreams of Quynh didn’t fill him with terror or malice. She was out, near Calais if he guessed the location and dialect right. It would take her time to reach the others. 

By the time she reached them, they would be reunited and hopefully out of her way. Despite the calmness of her dream, Booker was sure Quynh still wanted revenge on Andy. And with Andy being mortal now, there was no way she’d survive what Quynh planned for her.

He had no doubt that they would have to face her. And subdue her. 

As his mind wandered, the van stopped, jolting him out of his wool-gathering. 

They didn’t speak, simply used signals that were below his line of sight for orders. Two took their place at his head, two near his feet. One opened the door and more heavily armed men were waiting, guns drawn and aimed at him as they pulled the stretcher out. 

It was dark, but Booker could still tell they were in some large underground parkade of sorts. He craned his neck to see if he could spot a company name or a city name, but he was wheeled to an industrial lift far too quickly to see anything. Anything on the walls was obstructed by the guards surrounding him from all sides, making him sigh irritably.

They ignored him for the most part, and the ride was slow, made bearable by the numbers ticking by as they climbed. Once they hit the eight floor and the doors opened, they didn't wheel him by as fast, giving him a chance to see the name of the building. He was both relieved and perturbed when he read the name. It was in Catalan, which meant Barcelona. 

A good thing, since it meant they hadn’t taken him too far from Lleida. The bad thing was that it was a pharmaceutical company, which meant-

“Meta Kozak.”

She smiled at him as they wheeled the stretcher over to her and it was all Booker could do to not spit in her face. 

“So you remembered my name, Omega. Very good. As I’ll get to know yours and your children's names, no doubt,” she replied in a silky smooth voice that set Booker’s teeth on edge. 

“I thought we killed you,” he spat out, making her laugh. 

“You thought. You only knocked me out and once I was vetted, I took my research and samples and found a backer. They set me up with this lab. Better than Merrick’s if you ask me,” she added as she gestured to the room that, to Booker, looked similar to the other lab. 

“If you say so,” Booker replied, since she clearly wanted an answer. 

She turned to him, studying him closely and making him feel like a specimen under glass. 

“I do. Especially now that you have clear evidence two immortals can breed. Just two or three more months and I’ll have a concrete answer. More immortal DNA and a way to unlock the cure for every disease known to man. You, Omega, have given me a Nobel Prize on a platter.”

Booker only snorted as she went to a sliding table and laid out syringes, needles, and other instruments he recalled from his visits to the clinic.

“Keep dreaming, Kozak. The only thing you’ll have to look forward to is your own death, nothing more,” Booker stated as he calmly watched her pull out a portable ultrasound machine and park it by his stretcher. She pulled up his shirt, then moved to the table and picked up a syringe.

“Considering that your Alphas haven’t a clue as to where you are, those are bold words, Mr. Le Livre. Bold and empty words. Especially since we learned our lesson from the last time. You won’t slip through my fingers this time. Nor will your children. Now hold still. This _will_ hurt.”

~*~*~*~

Andy ran her hand through her dirty hair as she waited for Copely to pick up. They had managed to salvage what they could out of the destroyed safehouse and found a hotel nearby. Nicky was in the other room, calling the insurance company to arrange the rebuilding of the house, while Joe watched her. Nile was in the shower, prudently withdrawing to give Joe and Andy some privacy. 

“Copely. What can I do for you, Andy?”

“We need you to locate Booker. Our safehouse in Lleida was firebombed and a well-trained group took him. We need to find him. Anything would be helpful at this point,” Andy replied tersely. 

Copley swore, then fell quiet. The only sound being a rhythmic tapping at a keyboard as he plugged in the information that Andy had given him. Joe only paced as he waited for something, anything, to tell them where they could get their beloved Omega back. Occasionally, his hand would go to the side of his neck, rubbing it before he would resume his pacing once more. 

“I’m checking CCTV at the moment and...yep. There it is. The van is the same kind that they used when they took your colleagues last time. No license plates. Top of the line gear. These guys are professionals. Someone was definitely gunning for Booker, alright.”

Andy sighed heavily, rubbing her forehead when she heard that. She looked up at Joe and shook her head at his unspoken question. He sighed heavily and rubbed his mouth as he paced the length of the room. 

“Can you find out where they headed? Towards France? Andorra?” Andy asked, rubbing harder at the edge of the bandage that Nicky had hastily slapped on the ugly looking wound near her hairline. 

“You’re in luck. They stayed in Spain at least. Looks like they’re headed to-Barcelona. I have more footage to comb through, but I’ll have a location. I’ll call you when I get it,” Copley promised, his keyboard clicking as he started to do just that. 

“Alright. Keep us posted,” Andy added, ending the call. 

She hung up and shoved the phone in her pocket, then turned to Joe who was impatiently waiting for what she had found. 

“Did he find anything at all?” Joe asked in a thin voice, his Alpha scent of mint and sandalwood rising as he spoke. 

Andy wrinkled her nose at the scent and nodded. “He spotted the van and it’s headed to Barcelona.”

Joe growled, reaching up to tug at his hair at the news. “It’s not good enough! Andy, we don’t know who took Basti! We don’t know what they have planned for him!”

Andy sighed heavily, “I know, Joe. I know. But we can’t be running in half-cocked and without a plan. I know he’s your mate. Yours and Nicky’s, but if we don’t know what we’re looking for, and if whoever is holding him gets a hint, we could lose the trail entirely. We have to wait.”

“Wait for what?” Nicky asked, coming into the room and making a beeline for a clearly upset Joe and embracing him tightly. They pulled apart briefly to have one of their wordless conversations, to which Nicky shook his head and after a moment, Joe did the same. It was then that they turned to look at Andy with hopeful expressions.

“Copely found a lead. They took him to Barcelona,” Joe replied, making Nicky exhale and close his eyes. 

“Anything else? Did he get license plates? Who owned the vehicle?” Nicky asked. 

Andy shook her head. “The only thing he said was that the van was similar to what they had used when Merrick’s men took you and Joe.”

Nicky and Joe’s heads shot up at that bit of news, while Andy’s own eyes narrowed. 

“Was Kozak killed when we escaped from Merrick?” 

Joe and Nicky glanced at each other, their eyes wide with shock and surprise. Had she?

Nile exited the bathroom just in time to catch the question and her face fell.

“No. I knocked her down, but I didn’t check afterwards,” Nile replied, her face creased with regret as she spoke. Andy closed her eyes while Joe and Nicky swore.

“I’m sorry. I should have-”

“No. This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known she would try again. None of us even considered it. Copely had nothing on her. No, Nile. The only one to blame is her and whoever is backing her,” Andy interjected sharply, her voice brooking no argument. 

Nicky and Joe nodded in agreement at Andy’s words, yet Nile looked unconvinced. Nicky and Joe held one of their silent conversations, deciding on a course of action. Joe turned to Nile, who was still clutching her dirty clothes in front of her. He took the clothes from her and gently led her to one of the beds, wrapping an arm around her as they sat down. 

“Please, Nile, don’t. It’s too easy to go down that road. None of us would have guessed that this would have happened. What’s important now is that we track her down and get Basti back,” Joe comforted her, looking up at Nicky and Andy, who were watching them with concerned looks on their faces. 

“Joe is right, Nile. What’s important now is getting Booker back and stopping that crazy witch from harming anyone else,” Nicky added, anger seeping into his words. Andy nodded in agreement, crossing her arms in front of her as she listened. 

Nile looked up at them, her eyes still dark with worry. She looked at all of them for a few moments before finally sighing heavily and nodding. 

Joe smiled and pulled her into a one armed hug and bent his head to whisper into her ear. Nile looked at him and she nodded, giving him a faint smile in return. 

“So do we have a plan to get Booker back?”

Andy grimaced. “We don’t have much yet. Only that they’re taking Booker to Barcelona. Copely is trying to find exactly where they took him to. So now we wait.”

Nicky sighed as he rubbed his face. “And there’s still the question of Quynh.”

Andy grimaced. “She can wait. Nile, have you had any dreams about her?”

Nile shook her head. “Nothing so far.”

Andy glanced at her phone. “As much as I hate to say this, food and rest would be the best thing to do right now. We can’t rescue Booker if we’re not at our best. Copely may have something for us then. Nile, want to come and get food?”

Nile nodded and followed Andy’s lead. 

“Sure. Do you guys have a preference?” 

Nicky and Joe shook their heads. Andy nodded and left with Nile, leaving Nicky and Joe alone in the room. 

They stood there, in the anonymous hotel room decorated in faded pastels and boring brown and beige bedding on the two beds. Nicky frowned at the decor and looked out the large window into the Lleida night, all the while hoping that Booker and the babies were okay. 

Joe watched his husband before he broke the silence in the room. “They’re in Barcelona. That’s something.”

Nicky nodded as he made his way to the bed and sat next to his husband and laid his head on Joe’s shoulder. 

“It is. Not much, but it is. _Libretto’s_ resourceful and strong. Remember South Africa?”

Joe nodded. “I still don’t know how he managed to find us at the right time, but he did. Russia too, even when he hated the cold. I’ve never seen anyone so eager to get out of Moscow before or after. Yet he was there.”

Nicky made a noise in agreement. “He was. Always has been until Merrick and Copely got to him.”

Joe winced, but he couldn’t deny the truth. Nor could he stop thinking about the parts that they all played for Booker to get to that point of desperation. Despite the strides they had made, it was still something that they had to continuously work on if they were going to make a relationship between all three of them work. They were making progress, but if they couldn’t get Booker back-Joe snapped that thought off quick. It wouldn’t happen. They would get Booker back. They would get their mate back.

“He will be again. We’ll get him and our children back. We’ll be together again with our mate again. I know it, _habibi._ We will get our Basti back again and never let him go.”

Nicky nodded, both falling silent as they thought about their mate and how much they missed him and worried about him. The bond was mostly silent, only giving occasional flares that could have been anything, which worried them more than if they had felt pain or longing. 

“I know, _cuore_. I know.” Nicky murmured, brushing a kiss on Joe’s shoulder.

They sat quietly for a few moments, lost in their thoughts of their mate when the door to the room flew open to reveal an energized Andy and Nile. They rushed in and started grabbing at their bags to pack up again. 

Nicky’s head rose at their activity at the same time a surge of pain spiked through the bond, making him wince and Joe rub his neck. 

“Did he find something?” Nicky asked, wincing again as the pain got worse.

“Copely just called. We have a location,” Andy replied, pausing when she heard Joe cry out at the pain in his neck. 

“And just in time, it seems. Get your stuff and the weapons. We’re going to get our Booker back.”

~*~*~*~*

Booker screamed in pain as Kozak jabbed another needle into his hip, not bothering to give him any sedatives for the procedure. 

If he hadn’t been restrained, he would have certainly jumped out of her grasp, the pain being yet another variety of awful. She had already harvested cells from other places, careful to not go too deeply or as drastically as Booker knew she wanted to. 

“We know _you_ will survive anything I do. Your children? I don’t like gambling on such long odds,” Kozak had stated after taking enough blood from him to make him dizzy and see double. It had been a brief thing, but he certainly was not in the mood to die of exsanguination and had said as much. 

She had backed off after that, leaving him be for a few blessed hours of peace where he talked to his children and reached for the bond between himself and his Alphas. It wasn’t the same as having them with him, but he’d take whatever comfort he could as he waited for them to come and break him out. He knew they would, but it was a matter of waiting and enduring Kozak’s administrations. 

Administrations that he knew were milder than what Nicky and Joe had been subjected to and that he spent the time silently apologizing to them as he lay there. He also had to appreciate the irony of the situation, since he _had_ initially signed up for this, yet now that he found himself a lab rat, he couldn’t wait to be released or to find his escape. God definitely had a sick sense of humour.

Booker would have to remember that one to tell them later. He was sure that Andy would get a laugh out of that. 

“Just one more for today,” Kozak said, pulling him out of his thoughts as she yanked the needle out and pushed another one into his other hip, tearing another scream out of him. 

The pain was bad enough to make him sweat and he could hear his screams turning into howls as she dug the needle in deep. The babies moved, kicking him in response to his distress and he hoped they wouldn’t kick his bladder and make him piss himself. 

He nearly did when the klaxons of an alarm started blaring, making Kozak yank the needle out and leave him writhing weakly from the pain.

She tossed the syringe on the table and rushed to the door, her screams barely registering as gunfire and the shouts of dying and injured men filled the air. Booker panted as he felt his Alpha’s presences grow stronger as the sounds of mayhem got closer.

“No! How did they find you?! HOW?” Kozak screeched as the guards were ruthlessly mowed down by Joe and Nicky while Andy and Nile took care of the stragglers. 

Booker only groaned out a laugh as he tried to see his family and his Alphas. 

“I told you, Kozak. The only thing you’re going to get is your death,” Booker reminded her, smirking as he watched her fumble with the lock in the room. 

It wouldn’t help her. Joe was their powerhouse for a reason and he was showing exactly how ruthless he could be as he broke the last guards neck and stopped in front of the door. Wild eyed and bloodstained, yet he was the most beautiful sight Booker had seen in years. Nicky stood right behind him, gun aimed at Kozak as she finally locked the door. 

She staggered back to the stretcher he lay in, obviously thinking herself safe, while Booker only watched and huffed a tired laugh out. 

“That won’t stop them. Slow them down, maybe,” Booker noted, making Kozak laugh harshly. 

“That’s military grade-”

A small explosion cut her off, and the door was kicked into a million little pieces by Joe as he and Nicky strode into the room. 

Kozak shrieked in fear as Joe lunged at her, grabbing her by the neck and shoving her against the opposite wall of the lab.

Nicky rushed to Booker and kissed him, roughly and passionately before he pulled away and started cutting through the restraints. He got Booker loose in no time and pulled him to a sitting position, checking him over before grabbing Booker’s face with both hands.

He checked Booker’s face over again smiling only when he found Booker was fine. A little tired and careworn, but fine. It was only then that he let his forehead rest against Booker’s.

“I’m so glad to see you, _Libretto_ ,” Nicky murmured, running fingers through Booker’s hair before finally pulling him into a hug. 

“As am I, _cher_. As am I,” Booker murmured, his voice shaky as he returned the hug, not wanting to ever let Nicky go. He felt himself start choking up and to his horror, he started to cry.

“Oh _Libretto_. You’re okay. It’s okay. You’re okay,” Nicky soothed him, rubbing his back. He held him like that for a few moments before he looked up at Joe and gave him a nod. 

“ _Get Basti out, hayati,”_ Joe told him in their private language, watching as Nicky picked up Booker and carried him out past Andy and Nile, who had just arrived on the scene. 

“We only have five minutes, Yusuf,” Andy called to him as they started to pull out.

“Go. I’ll catch up,” Joe called out, waiting until they were gone before he turned his attention back to Kozak, who was now crying in fear. 

“You hurt me. You hurt my Nicky and now you’ve hurt my Basti and our children. You _definitely_ should have NOT done that,” Joe whispered.

Kozak tried to choke out a plea, but Joe only covered her mouth while he slit her throat with the knife he slid out of his sleeve, not leaving until he heard her death rattle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kozak-It was a tough call who it would be that kidnapped Booker, but in the end, she made more sense. She wouldn't dream of letting Booker and the babies slip from her grasp so she won. Joe got the honours to end her since she had hurt all of them terribly and endangered the children.  
> Nicky-It felt right to have him be the one to miss Booker and comfort their Omega once they got him back. They love him equally, but it felt like this was his chance to have more of a connection to Booker here.  
> Booker-He's tough, but he's close to six months, stressed to hell,separated from his Alphas, and being tortured so it's not out of the real of possibility that he'd burst into tears when Nicky holds him. 
> 
> Thank you again to all that have read, commented and given kudos. It was a hell of a week for me so I pushed to get this part done.


	8. You're My Barricade From Intruding Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that they've got Booker back, the team decides on how best to tackle the next threat. Deciding to split up, Andy and Nile head to Germany while Joe, Nicky, and Booker remain in Spain and regroup. But Booker's time in Kozak's lab catches up to him, putting his children's lives at risk. 
> 
> Once at the hospital, they run into a familiar doctor who mistakenly believes Booker's injuries are due to abuse. Once he realises his mistake, he makes amends by giving Nicky much needed and surprising news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few things: Many thanks to my beta, Snarkasaurus, who helped me immensely when I was debating the direction of this chapter.   
> There is Booker whump here and research was done, but if mistakes occur they will be sorted out. I have also all the good things to say about Barcelona, but Booker is still traumatised, hence the move to Madrid and for other reasons that will become clear.   
> Lastly, thank you all who have read, commented, and given kudos to this story. Much appreciated!

_ Chapter 8-You’re my barricade, from intruding dreams _

Joe appeared right at the deadline, jumping into the backseat of the car with less than a minute to spare. He looked grimly triumphant as he slammed the door shut and nodded to Andy. Nile put her gun down and clicked the safety on, putting it out of sight as they pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards a highway.

“Madrid?” She asked as she pulled away, her eyes on the rearview mirror as she watched Joe do a silent countdown while Nicky soothed a still shaken Booker. 

Joe nodded at the same time that the building erupted into flames, the explosion dimmed by the distance. 

“Didn’t want to take any chances this time around,” Joe muttered, turning to his full attention to Nicky and Booker. He checked Booker over, scenting him just enough for Booker to relax the death grip he had on Nicky, but not letting go just yet. 

Andy laughed a short laugh at that, “I’d say you did a good job of that. Copely’s going to have his hands full with that one.”

Joe shrugged. “We couldn’t take any more chances. Not with the children’s DNA she extracted on top of all she had from before.” 

Nicky let out a soft growl at that and tightened his grip on Booker when his scent went from subtle and floral to sharp and overripe. Nicky rubbed his back and whispered something, but the scent was still sharp and acrid. 

Andy’s mouth twisted at that and Nile frowned. Both felt antsy and the need to comfort the distraught Omega in their midst was strong.

Joe’s mouth thinned and he gently coaxed Nicky to release their Omega to him so that he could also scent and hopefully calm him down. 

“Let me scent you, Basti,” Joe murmured. Booker nodded as he let himself be pulled into Joe’s embrace so his Alpha could do just that. Nicky only watched, gently rubbing Booker’s back as Joe properly scented their Omega until he was nearly asleep. His scent was back to being the usual light and pleasant one, soothing all of the Alphas and the Beta in the car. 

Andy sighed and turned the radio on, letting Nile fiddle with the controls until she found a station she liked. 

They drove on until the sky had darkened and they pulled up to an outside section of Madrid where the houses weren’t as close together and a graveyard sat near the house that they pulled up to. 

“Are you sure it’s fine to be here?” Nicky asked as he got out of the car and took Booker from Joe.

“It’s fine. I checked on it last year. Not as comfortable as Lleida, but it will do as a temporary solution. If we decide to stay longer, we can always fix it up,” Andy replied as she tossed Nile the keys.

“I think the master in the front of the house is ready. Maybe you should take Booker there, Joe? Nicky, Nile, and I will take care of the rest,” Andy added.

“Will do,” Joe replied as he nuzzled Booker before both disappeared into the cool darkness of the house. Nicky and Nile followed right after, carrying some of the bags inside. Andy remained outside, frowning at the night sky. 

She heard the shower going and the faint sounds of the house coming alive, letting them ground her as she debated on what to do next. Sighing, Andy pulled out her phone and called Copely, grabbing at the remaining bags as she waited for the call to connect.

“ _ Copely, speaking” _

“The job is done. We got him back. He’s safe, but there’s a lot of clean up. His Alpha didn’t want to take any chances,” Andy explained, slamming the trunk closed. 

Copely sighed, “ _I’ll get on it._ _So far, it’s local news. Gas leak or something like that. I’ll scrub the rest. Oh and Andy, stay safe. I’ve been getting notifications that someone is also looking for you. Last known location was Calais.”_

Andy swore sofly, locking the car as she went inside. 

“Alright. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll let the others know,” Andy ended the call and went directly to the master bedroom, where she was sure they all were. 

Sure enough, a clean Booker was in the bed, with Nicky curled around him while Joe sat next to them, his hand stroking his and Booker’s hair. Nile hovered nearby, the bags at her feet as she stood guard. They all looked up when Andy appeared.

“Copely’s getting rid of the evidence. So far, it’s just local news saying it’s a gas leak,” Andy informed her right as she entered the room, “He also says someone’s looking for us. Last known location was Calais.”

Booker nodded slowly, “I dreamt of her in Kozak’s lab. She’s on her way.”

Andy’s face closed off at Booker’s words and she crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall away from the window. 

She watched the bright lights of the Madrid night for a few moments as she worked out a plan. She would have definitely started moving now that they had Booker back, but that wasn’t fair to him. Or the children, who needed to get looked at. Her instincts were to keep the family close. 

But with Quynh being keen on revenge, there was no way that she’d put Booker’s children at risk. They had to split up like they had originally planned. Maybe a few days in Madrid and then she’d start moving north.

“So what’s the plan, Andy?” Nile asked, her voice loud in the silence of the room. 

“Booker, do you think you’d be able to travel?” Andy asked, doubting that he could, but still wanting to ask the question just in case it was possible. 

Booker sat up with Nicky and Joe’s help and shook his head at Andy as he smoothed his hand down his bump. 

“I’m sorry, boss, but I can’t risk them anymore. Kozak cut it close with some of those tests and I need to know that they’re healthy. I’m so sorry, but I have to stay,” Booker whispered, sinking into Joe and Nicky’s arms. 

Joe and Nicky nodded, both relieved that Booker hadn’t insisted on travelling with Andy. They would have respected his decision either way, but they couldn’t help but to be relieved that Booker had chosen to stay. They scented him again, their instincts keen on soothing and comforting their mate as much as they could now that they had him back.

Andy nodded, staying where she was. She could tell Joe and Nicky were feeling protective over Booker and she wasn’t about to add unneeded tension to the situation. “I understand, Book. It was a long shot. Nile and I will head to Stuttgart.”

Booker frowned. “What about the dreams? She can track you down using them still.”

“She will find me no matter what, Book. I’m her target after all. You would be collateral. Your children would be collateral for her and that’s the last thing I want. No. Nile has proven she can watch my six. You trust your Alphas to do the same for you.”

Booker smiled faintly at that, while Joe and Nicky nodded, their grip on their Omega tightening as they did. 

“So when are you thinking of heading out?” Nicky asked as he watched Andy and Nile start to divvy up the ammo and the clothing into other bags. 

“An hour. Nile?” 

Nile paused and nodded. “Just need a shower and some food.”

“An hour. Two at the most. We’ll check in once we’ve crossed into France. I’ll keep away from Normandy, just in case,” Andy informed them as she finished repacking her bag. 

“And if not?” Joe asked softly. 

“Call Copely if we don’t check in for more than a day. Do not engage until you hear my signal, Understood?”

The boys nodded, despite their pained glances telling them that they’d rather not, but would abide by her wishes. She was the oldest and their leader. Even if she was mortal now.

“Take care of yourselves.”

She didn’t wait for them to speak and walked out, Nile following right after. 

They went off to get clean, Andy going first while Nile hunted out food. Andy suspected that it was due to her being mortal. Andy didn’t mind, since it meant being able to get clean quickly. 

She stepped into the bathroom and stripped off her boots and clothing, throwing those in the bin. She moved to turn on the shower and left it running, turning to the steam fogged mirror and wiping it off to reveal her tired face. Still the same features and too old eyes. The same sight that had met her for years and years.

She huffed a laugh and went into the shower, getting cleaned up before going into the kitchen and gratefully accepting the bowl of tinned spaghetti Nile handed to her. She ate mechanically, more for the need rather than the pleasure of it. It wasn’t Nicky’s cooking, but it would do for now.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea for us to separate? Wouldn’t it make sense if we stayed together?” Nile asked, breaking the silence between them as they shoved their bags into the back of the car and got in. 

They sat in the driveway for a few minutes before Andy spoke. 

“She would take Booker hostage if we did, so she could get to me and she wouldn’t hesitate to kill us both to make her point. She’s angry at  _ me _ . Destroying Booker would just be another way to hurt me. Hurting Joe and Nicky would just be another item to cross off her list on her way to me. And I won’t be responsible for that. She can have me. I owe her that much. But not them.”

Nile looked out the windscreen at the dark night before looking back at Andy, “But making yourself a martyr won’t solve anything. She’ll come for Nicky and Joe after. I mean, weren’t they there as well? Wouldn’t she blame them for leaving her too?”

Andy snorted as she started the car, “They never promised her forever. I  _ did _ .”

Nile fell silent and Andy pulled the car out of the driveway and back on the road to head to France. 

~*~*~*~*~

Joe chewed on his lip as he heard the car pull away. He felt uneasy about them splitting up, but he also knew better than to argue with Andy once she had made up her mind. He looked up at Nicky and saw his thoughts reflected in his husband’s eyes.

They understood why she had left. Yet they hated that they had to let her go. 

Quynh wasn’t who they had known in the past. What Booker had finally told them was proof enough of that and they didn’t know how she would react towards him. She had been a pit viper in a fight and Joe didn’t doubt that she wouldn’t leverage whatever advantage she’d have at hand. As much as he wanted to deny it, he knew she would use Booker to destroy them all. 

Nicky gave him a small nod in agreement and pressed a kiss on a now sleeping Booker’s forehead, making their mate stir. They stayed still, but Booker didn’t wake, much to their relief. They didn’t want to wake him. Not after he’d undergone so much trauma in the past day and some. 

“Maybe we should get something to eat,” Nicky sighed, suddenly too tired to do much despite being hungry. 

Joe saw and leaned over to kiss the corner of his mouth and then his lips. 

“Later. We can take a moment or two.”

Nicky hummed in agreement and stayed in the bed in the makeshift nest that they had quickly managed to scrounge up with the bedding and pillows they had found. Booker lay in a doze, deep enough to give his body time to finish healing what it couldn’t in the lab. 

Something that worried Nicky due to how slowly the bruises from the restraints and needles were healing. He studied the bruise in the crook of Booker’s arms and frowned. This was not good. Was Booker also losing his immortality?

He looked up at Joe, who frowned. 

“What is it,  _ hayati?” _

Nicky didn’t have time to answer due to the metallic scent of blood in the air and Booker waking up with a groan of pain.

“Basti? Basti,  _ habibi, _ what’s wrong?” Joe asked, pulling the blankets back and swearing as the scent of blood hit him. 

“I don’t know. I thought I was fine, but I smell blood,” Booker panted as he clung onto Nicky, who was out of the bed in an instant. 

“We’ll get you help, don’t worry, Basti,” Joe assured him, despite the worry that shone in his soft brown eyes as he got out of the bed and got Basti ready to go.

“I’ll get the car.  _ Cuore,  _ get  _ Libretto  _ ready,” Nicky instructed as he helped Joe bundle up a panting Booker before he kissed Booker and ran off to get the car.

“Do you think it’s the babies?” Joe asked Booker as they made their slow way to the front of the house where Nicky was waiting for them. 

“I hope not, but Kozak was cutting a lot of her tests close. I didn’t bleed with my boys. Not until they were ready to be born,” Booker replied, wincing at another jab of pain hit him. 

Joe felt a cold fear enter his heart at Booker’s words. Had Kozak hurt one of their children? Had she caused Booker to miscarry? Would they lose their children before they were to be born?

He hoped deep in his heart that it wasn’t the case. They were all immortal. Surely their children would be too? Maybe it was just the stress and trauma of all the things Kozak had done to Booker finally catching up to him?

These questions swirled in his mind as he got Booker into the car and tried to not show his worry to Nicky or Booker. But the look Nicky gave him in the rearview mirror told him he hadn’t been successful. Thankfully, Nicky hadn’t called him on it and drove instead. 

“It will be okay. It will be okay,” Nicky whispered, trying to reassure both of them as they travelled through the Madrid night, all the while hoping that he was right and not just mouthing platitudes. 

~*~*~*~*

Doctor Ramos had just finished making the last additions on the chart when the tall nurse who he recalled was named Nuria, came running up to him. 

“Doctor, a pregnant Omega just came into the emergency. They’re close to six months and they’re bleeding. Can you come and take a look?”

Doctor Ramos nodded, shoving the chart into the cart and following Nuria as she easily cut through the halls and showed him into the blue curtained cubicle where two very familiar Alphas were standing by a familiar Omega lying curled up on the emergency bed.

All four of them were shocked to see each other, and Ramos admitted that he did freeze for a moment before his training kicked in. 

“Mr. Le Livre, I wasn’t expecting to see you here, but now that you are, I’m sure I can take a look. You’re in good hands here,” the doctor assured them, making all of them relax. 

“Now let’s take a look here, shall we?”

Nicky and Joe moved away to let the doctor examine Booker, yet staying near for support. They fidgeted as they watched the examination, but didn’t interfere. It was a tense time until the doctor pulled away and nodded at them. 

“The bleeding seems to have slowed down, so that’s a good sign. I will need to do some more tests to make sure that your babies are fine. Which means gentlemen, I will have to ask you to leave, since it will get crowded here. Hospital rules, I’m afraid.” 

Doctor Ramos explained apologetically while the Alphas silently debated before finally giving in with ill grace. 

“We’ll be in the waiting room, love,” one of the Alphas assured Le Livre before they kissed him and left the grey-blue cubicle. 

Ramos waited for a few minutes before pulling the curtain closed and turning to Booker.

“I’m sorry, but in the light of your bruises and what I’m sure is a placental abruption, was it your Alphas that did this to you?”

Booker’s eyes widened at the question, “No! God no! They’d never! No!”

Ramos bit his lip as he pointed to the bruises that were still clear on his arms and on his neck. 

“Then how did this happen?” he asked, his voice low and gentle as he pulled up a stool and sat next to Booker.

Booker sighed heavily as he glanced over to the doctor, “Let’s just say that Lleida wasn’t as quiet as we had hoped and Barcelona wasn’t as friendly as I recalled.”

Ramos’ dark brown eyes narrowed at the cryptic answer, but he didn’t say anything as the pieces he had been missing about the clinic and the sudden explosions in both Lleida and Barcelona slotted into place. He’d need to call his mate to fill in the blanks, but Ramos was sure that it had to do something with the racket that had been uncovered in Lleida. 

And if he was right, well, he definitely owed Le Livre an apology and his Alphas a visit. 

“Alright. We’ll leave it as that. But for now, I need to move you upstairs to get you fully checked out.”

Booker nodded, “Please. If you can help my babies, do all that you can.”

Ramos smiled and patted his hand.

“I promise we will, you don’t have to worry about that.”

~*~*~*~*~

Nicky was standing by the designated smoking section having a cigarette. Even though he had quit a few years back, it was a comforting habit that he only came back to when he needed to think alone. Joe had understood and left him to it, sitting in the waiting room in case the nurses gave them any news of their Omega. 

He exhaled and closed his eyes, letting the tension flow out of him with the smoke he exhaled from his lungs. He felt a peace settle on him before he opened his eyes in time to see the Omega Doctor standing at the entrance, watching him. 

Immediately, Nicky was on his guard when he saw him. The doctor noticed and shook his head, making the long chestnut tail he kept his hair tied back swish softly around his shoulders. 

“Relax, I come bearing news. Good news, in fact.”

He added, raising his hands in a gesture of peace as he walked up to Nicky. 

“Is my mate okay? The children?”

The doctor nodded. “They just need a few weeks in the hospital for observation due to a placental abruption, which was why he was bleeding. He’s also a bit dehydrated and bruised, so we want to play it safe.”

Nicky’s hackles raised despite the neutral tone the doctor spoke in. 

“If you think that we did that to him, you’re-”

“I know you didn’t,” Ramos cut in sharply, making Nicky blink at the quiet ferocity of the lanky Omega in front of him. 

“I do have an idea where the abuse happened, though. Have you watched the news lately, Alpha Le Livre?”

Nicky shook his head silently, taking one last drag from his cigarette as he listened. 

“The clinic I worked in Lleida, where I first met you and your mate, has been closed on suspicion of corruption and bribe taking from pharmaceutical companies. Nurses have been suspended. Then a pharmaceutical company with black market ties has a gas leak and an explosion.”

Nicky exhaled and flicked the cigarette into the ashtray, “Shame how those things happen, but I don’t understand why you’re talking to me about this. Do you think we may have had something to do with it?”

The doctor looked away and shrugged, “I quite frankly don’t care if you were involved or not. It’s not my business.”

Nicky raised an eyebrow at that reply, “So why talk to me about these events?”

“Because I know if whatever happened to Mr. Le Livre happened to me, my Alpha would move heaven and earth to find who was responsible.”

Nicky stiffened at that. “We did.”

Ramos raised an eyebrow as he reached into his pocket, “Yes. But did you find out  _ who _ led them to your mate? Or do you simply believe it was coincidence or bad luck?”

Nicky growled low in his throat. The thought had occurred to him and Joe as they had gone to get their  _ Libretto  _ back. He hadn’t really dwelled on it with more pressing matters at hand. But now that the doctor mentioned it, he had to wonder how they had managed to find them.

Doctor Ramos nodded as he pulled out a folded piece of paper and held it out for Nicky to take. 

Nicky took the paper and skimmed the list of names. The top one being the nurse that he now recalled had given them a hard time when they had taken Booker to the clinic for the first time. 

Bit by bit, memories of how she had always watched Booker came back to Nicky and he could have kicked himself for not paying closer attention, thinking that it was normal for a nurse to be concerned for an Omega. Even Ramos had thought that Booker had been abused. Yet with all the pieces at hand, Nicky couldn’t help but to feel like they should have been more vigilant.

His anger rose at the realisation. Cold and bitter and needing release. 

“I appreciate the information, doctor. I really do. I just don’t understand why you’re giving me this information. Or  _ how _ you got it.”

Doctor Ramos nodded, “I lost my job at the clinic two weeks before it was closed down. I was the one that blew the whistle on the whole operation. I got death threats and had to relocate here. My mate is in the National Corps Police and was relieved to have me near. Especially since the same people targeting me were the ones he was investigating.”

Nicky folded the paper back and stuffed it into his pocket, “the same ones whose company had a gas leak?”

Doctor Ramos nodded, “the same one. Which somehow had all the files available for the National Corps to look through. Strange, isn't it?”

Nicky smiled blandly, “Very strange indeed.”

Ramos shrugged, “Once I connected the dots, it was the least I could do.”

Nicky smiled, “I appreciate it. All of it. But this will help at a later date. I need to be with my mates now.”

“Of course.”


	9. It's been a tough go lately, I hate choosing sides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe and Nicky discuss Ramos' information and the logistics involved in finishing off who hurt Booker. The decision is made when someone steps forward to pay back a debt, leaving them free to proceed. Another face of their past emerges, forcing Booker to make an impossible choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to the lovely Snarkasaurus for the beta and the commentary and new plot avenues! The help is greatly appreciated!! There are two Easter Eggs here for the football fans. Couldn't resist, even though I'm not a Madridista.

Joe skimmed the list of names on the creased paper before he folded it again and handed it back to Nicky. 

“Do you trust their information?” Joe asked, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in front of him as they waited for the nurses to check their mate over before they went into the room.

Nicky rubbed his mouth and nodded, “I had Copely run checks once I had seen  _ Libretto _ and you. Ramos and his mate are clean. Ramos only pops up as a whistleblower and Casillas as part of the investigation.”

Joe hummed at that as he looked at his husband, “What do you want to do,  _ hayati _ ? We don’t have that much time. No doubt they would be planning to disappear now that their covers are blown.”

“Not denying that. I could go by myself. Have it done in a week, I think?” Nicky guessed as he started to mentally tally up the logistics and equipment that he’d need in order to do so. 

Joe shook his head at that, “I don’t like the idea of a solo mission without backup. It’s too risky, especially with Nile and Andy in Toulouse at the moment. We could do it together in less than three days.”

Nicky chewed on his lip, drawing Joe’s eyes appreciatively to his mouth, “I know it would be easier, but i don’t want to leave  _ Libretto _ without protection. Not when he’s vulnerable and here.” 

He gestured to the wide corridors and the many rooms of the wards and the open doors at the end of the ward, to which Joe nodded. 

He understood, because his Alpha instincts were also rebelling at having his Omega here in this open and bright ward, instead of home in a dim and cozy nest to await the arrival of their children. 

“We could leave it. Pick up their trail when Basti is out of the woods. He is as good of a hacker as Copely. Or we could call Andy and Nile back?”

Nicky sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose as he weighed the options laid out in front of him. 

“You’re right that we could leave it. It would make tactical sense. Booker is very good at what he does. But I cannot let it go,  _ Cuore.  _ As misguided as  _ Libretto _ was, his choices weren’t driven by greed. He didn’t know what was to come. But they did.”

He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes hard, “And their greed not only put our Omega in danger, but our children. And for what? For however many thousand sodding Euros? No.”

Joe’s mouth thinned at that, “We have to tell him then. Maybe move-”

A loud commotion from the end of the hall made Joe cut himself off and both him and Nicky to look at what was causing it. 

To their surprise it was Dr. Ramos who was harshly holding a conversation with an Alpha the same height as him as they walked down the hall towards the nurse’s station. This Alpha was a complete contrast to the doctor. Whereas the doctor exuded warmth and had sunkissed skin and hair, his mate was all angles, pale and dark haired and exuded cool competence. His dark eyes swept the entire area and the other Alphas had no doubt that this was Detective Casillas and Ramos’ mate. 

“-get that this is important, but you just can’t come in here and disturb my patient! Particularly one who is still in a delicate state! Can’t you hold off?”

Nicky and Joe heard Ramos ask in a low growl, making his mate stop and look at him. Behind him, Nicky and Joe could see two cops guarding the entrance, which made them exchange a look as they tried to not draw attention to themselves while hoping the nurses would be done with their rounds already. They could see the start of a couple’s argument and didn’t want to be there to witness it. 

Casillas sighed heavily, his dark eyes shining as he answered his mate. 

“No. Not when we’re still making arrests. Both you and Le Livre need protection and believe me, as much as I’d rather not intrude in your sphere, I  _ have _ to be here. It’s not only my investigation, but my responsibility to keep both of you safe. And orders came from above.”

Ramos made an irritated noise at that, “Seriously?”

Casillas nodded, his mouth curling up into a brief smile that made Ramos sigh a heavy, put upon sigh before he also smiled faintly.

“I’m guessing you didn’t protest the assignment much either?” Ramos wondered softly. 

“Would you have wanted me to?” Casillas retorted, making Joe and Nicky look at each other with raised eyebrows. 

“Is this what everyone sees when they see us,  _ hayati? _ ” Nicky wondered, making Joe shrug.

Before Ramos could reply, the nurses bustled out, one of them indicating that they could go in while another went to talk to the doctor. They took their exit and were relieved to find their Omega awake and relieved to see them.

Still too pale, too tired and hooked up to lines and monitors, but awake and on his way to healing. The bruises were fainter and his face less drawn now that he wasn’t sunk into pain or shock. His colour was better, a bit high, but his Alphas guessed it was from the earlier examination. Their Omega was a private man and he had been forced to expose himself in so many different ways in the past year, so they could understand his embarrassment. 

So they did their best to diffuse it and make Booker as comfortable as he could be in the clinical setting similar to the one that he had just been rescued from.

“Basti! How are you feeling,  _ habibi _ ?” Joe asked, pulling up a vacant chair and clasping his free hand in his own. Nicky did the same, but on the other side, needing to also touch his  _ Libretto  _ to assure himself that yes, he truly was well.

Booker smiled, squeezing both of their hands before he spoke. 

“Better than before, that’s for certain. I’m healing slowly though, but at least the babies are fine now.”

Nicky muttered something that could have possibly been a prayer and Joe did the same. 

“They’re healthy? They’re well?” 

Booker nodded. “They will be. Ramos wants me to stay for a few weeks to make sure. Bleeding at any time is dangerous. Most children and their bearers usually don’t come out of it unscathed. Even now.”

Nicky swallowed hard at that, while Joe looked away. They understood Booker’s words all too clearly, Joe having lost a sister and Nicky his mother. Once bleeding started, it was always a sad end. 

Booker squeezed their hands in an effort to comfort them, purring quietly in an effort to reassure his worried mates. 

“I don’t think it will be necessary, though. Now that my healing is coming back.”

Joe made a soft noise at that, looking down at Booker’s arm. The ugly dark bruise in the crook of his arm as well as the ones on his wrist were yellow brown and healing as he watched.

Joe stroked Booker’s wrist in barely hidden relief, the motion seeming to sweep the last of the bruises away. He had wondered what he would have done if Booker had become mortal now that they were within having a new chance at a different life. As much as he would have liked to say that he would have coped, deep down, he was relieved that he wouldn’t have to know. 

He knew, during those hellish hours before they had been forced to wait, that he couldn’t lose Booker. The idea of never seeing him again made his heart ache and his hand covered the non-existent bruising in an effort to ground himself. 

Booker huffed a soft laugh that made Joe and Nicky look at him, “That’s the fastest I’ve healed today. Those bruises have been there since you rescued me from Kozak and her labs.”

Nicky frowned as he turned Booker’s arm over slowly, wincing at the IV port taped to the inside and saw the rest of the bruises fade away, leaving clear skin behind. 

“I don’t understand,  _ Libretto. _ I thought for a minute that you had become like Andy,” Nicky whispered, making Booker’s smile slip from his face. He turned and saw that Joe was nodding as well. 

“I thought so as well. When you were bleeding. I was worried that we had found you to lose you yet again,” Joe added. 

“Oh no. No. Joe, Nicky. No. I’m still here. No matter how long I have left, be it years or centuries, I’m here. With you for as long as you’ll have me. I promise that. I won’t ever voluntarily leave you or turn from you again,” he whispered harshly, pulling their hands towards his belly and placing them there. 

“On the lives of our children, I promise that.”

It wasn’t a sonnet, but it was honest and they both could hear the truth of Booker’s words in his heartfelt proclamation. And it was far sweeter than anything any poet or Joe himself could spin out.

“Oh Basti, of course. We believe you,  _ amore _ . Of course we do,  _ il nostro amore _ ,” Nicky replied, standing up to capture Booker’s lips in a passionate kiss that was all tenderness and love and left Booker chasing it after Nicky pulled away. 

“No darling, it’s my turn,” Joe whispered, grasping Booker’s chin and giving him a kiss that was light as raindrops on his lips and tasted the same. Booker moaned as Joe deepened the kiss, licking his lower lip to demand entrance. Booker complied, letting Joe taste every bit of him before he too, ended the kiss.

Nicky got closer, pressing light kisses upon Booker’s face as he subtly scented him, pulling a pleased purr from the Omega as their scents mingled together again. Joe joined them, kissing Nicky and then Booker as he did the same, leaving him a purring mess. 

“I’m so glad you’re back with us,  _ amore _ ,” Nicky murmured, stroking Booker’s hair back gently, making his Omega purr as his eyes slid shut. 

“Me too. As do our daughters,” Booker murmured, making Joe and Nicky both freeze at the news.

“Daughters? We’re having daughters, Basti?” Joe whispered, his eyes bright at the idea of having a little girl with his eyes and Booker’s blond hair and his smile. He looked at Nicky and he could see that he was picturing something similar, his eyes shining with happiness at the thought. 

Booker nodded, trying to get closer to the both of them as they stood still, no longer scenting or kissing him. 

“Kozak found out and Ramos confirmed it. I wanted to let you know before you left to finish the mission,” Booker added, giving the two Alphas yet another shock. 

“Did Ramos tell you?” Nicky queried. 

“He did. Only after I had assured them that it hadn’t been you two that had done this. He was sure that I was another victim of domestic violence. He’s seen enough in his line of work to know all the signs.”

Joe winced at Booker’s words, knowing them to be true. He still recalled the way that the doctor had worked to usher them out of the room to talk to Booker alone. He had his suspicions confirmed when Nicky had shown him the list and told him who had given it. 

“How much does he know?” Joe wondered.

Nicky and Booker exchanged a look before Nicky replied, “Enough to connect the dots between Booker, Lleida, Barcelona, and to need protection from the National Police Corps. Nothing more. If he suspects anything else, he’s keeping it to himself.”

Joe nodded, “And how much does his mate, Casillas, know?”

“Enough so that I am personally offering my protection to your mate as well.”

All three turned their attention to the doorway, where Detective Casillas had just entered Booker’s room. 

“How can we be sure that it is enough?” Nicky asked quietly. 

Casillas smiled thinly as he came close enough to study them closer, but not close enough to set off their instincts and cause a territorial fight to break out between them. He stood there, his eyes going back and forth between Nicky and Booker before he finally reached into his pocket and pulled out a very worn, and very creased picture. 

“I had heard stories from my family during the war and when I came to talk to my mate, I saw  _ you _ and then  _ him _ and I realised why that picture was a treasure my great-grandmother guarded for the rest of her life.”

Nicky unfolded the picture and gasped at the sight of his and Booker’s faces looking up from the worn black and white photograph as they helped a woman with the same dark eyes and hair as Detective Casillas out of the rubble of what had been a street in Madrid. Andy was behind them, her eyes blazing as she covered their retreat.

He swallowed hard as he passed the picture over to Booker and Joe, who exclaimed over it as well. 

“The Siege of Madrid. You saved her at great expense to yourselves and she never forgot it. And as her oldest grandson, I can finally pay you back for what you did for us.”

Booker looked at Nicky and Joe and gave them a small nod. He knew what Casillas meant when he said they had saved his great-grandmother at great expense. She had seen them die at least once and had kept their secret all those years. Her grandson would do the same.

“Guard them with your life, Casillas. He is dear to us,” Joe finally broke the silence, returning the photograph to him. 

Casillas nodded, “You have my word.”

Nicky nodded back before kissing Booker, “We’ll return,  _ caro mio.” _

“I’ll wait for you,  _ mon cheres _ .”

~*~*~*~*~

Booker lay on his side, his hand cradling his belly as he half-dozed in the dimness of the room. His daughters were still, no doubt sleeping, as Ramos said and Booker himself was nearly so. 

He wanted to sleep, but he couldn’t when Nicky and Joe were out there finishing the last of the mission. As much as he wanted to comfort himself that they would be fine, he couldn’t help but to stay awake and check their bonds. So far, things had gone well, but Booker still worried. 

Andy’s mortality had now become a concern for all of them. Joe and Nicky had said so and Booker himself had wondered if he had gotten it back when Ramos was working on him. Ironically, he had found himself afraid that had been the case and had been horrifically relieved when his healing kickstarted again.

He had found himself laughing despite everything, he had so much to do. He had amends to make, his daughters to raise, and people left to help. Casillas showed him that despite the heaviness of the past, peace could be made with it. And he owed his family the courtesy to try. He couldn’t die now. 

If there was a God, he definitely had a sick sense of humour. Or loved fucking with him, Booker mused as one of his daughters kicked him. He rubbed the spot and hoped that neither of them would decide to kick his bladder. It was annoying to go normally. But with a line and the accompanying pole, it was even worse. 

He rubbed his belly a few times, idly listening to the faint sound of the clock ticking, the AC running, Casillas and Ramos talking to each other, then silence. The last had him sitting up, his heartbeat speeding up when he saw the figure standing in the doorway of his room.

He opened his mouth to speak, but the figure pushed the door closed and walked towards the bed, the features of the figure illuminated by the light above his bed. 

Booker got the impression of long straight lines in red and black and eyes that had seen too much set in a heart shaped face he had seen drowning for hundreds of years. 

He swallowed hard before he was able to speak.

“Quynh.”

Quynh smiled as she elegantly sat down on the visitor’s chair beside his bed. 

“Hello, Booker. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Booker nodded, his throat closing up and his arm cradling his belly in a futile effort to protect his daughters from Quynh. 

She smiled at him as she crossed her legs, “You know why I am here, Booker. You also should know that I don’t intend to leave without the information I want.”

Booker swallowed hard, “And if you don’t get it?”

Quynh tilted her head and smiled, a slow curving of cherry red lips before she pulled out a stiletto and shoved it through Booker’s shoulder. 

She was so fast that Booker only saw a blur before his brain registered the burning agony of the knife buried in his shoulder. He forced himself to not scream out, grunting as Quynh pulled it out and held it against his eye.

“Next time, it won’t be your shoulder. Or you. Are you willing to try and take the chance?”

Booker blinked as the blade got closer to his eye.

“What will it be, Booker?”

~*~*~*~*~*

Nicky closed his left eye, took a breath, held it, then pulled the trigger the exact moment he exhaled.

The bullet hit home, the target collapsing over the suitcase that she had been frantically packing when Nicky took her out. She was the last on the list, a greedy CEO that happily gave Kozak backing without checking with her board of directors. She had seen the writing on the wall and was heading out to hide in Switzerland.

An hour more, and they would have missed her completely. As it was, Nicky and Joe had cut it close, the nurse having taken longer than they had anticipated. 

_ That _ had been personal and Nicky refused to feel any regret for what they had done. She hadn’t expressed any in selling their  _ Libretto _ out, he wasn’t going to either. 

_ “Nicky? Is it finished?” _

Joe asked through the earpiece, taking Nicky out of his morbid musings.

Nicky closed his eyes briefly before he replied, “ _ It has. I’m going to pack up now. Meet you on the street in five?” _

_ “Got it. I’ll be there with the car. See you soon, habibi.” _

Nicky smiled as he got to work dismantling his rifle and putting it away. Once that was done, he took off his hat and black jacket, turning it inside out to reveal the plaid lining. It made him look just like any other person wandering around that night and that was what he needed. 

He made it down to the streets and into the car with no problem, slipping in and tossing the bag into the backseat before turning to give Joe a kiss. 

“That’s done. They won’t ever hurt anyone again,” Nicky noted as he sat back while Joe started driving. 

“That’s for sure. Did you call Copely to scrub the CCTV?” Joe asked. Nicky shook his head. 

“Didn’t have time after the warehouse. I’ll do it now,” Nicky promised, fishing out the burner and paling when he saw the message on the screen. 

Joe noticed his stillness and took the phone from him, reading the message and swearing when he did.

He tossed the phone back to Nicky and took off, deliberately not thinking about the message. He wouldn’t. Not until he had to.

They were both silent as they drove to the hospital and when they arrived, barely remembering to leave the car in the parkade before they rushed to the ward where Booker was. 

The ward was filled with cops and nurses, but no bodies. No one got in their way as they hurried to Booker’s room, stopping only when they were met by Casillas, who had a bandage across his forehead and Ramos, who had a black eye.

“What happened?” Joe asked them.

“Someone got the drop on us. One like you,” Casillas explained, making Nicky and Joe panic at the news. 

“Is Basti-”

“He’s still here and he’d appreciate seeing you. We just wanted to let you know what happened before you made a decision,” Ramos explained, stepping aside to let them into the room. 

“Decision? On what?” Nicky wondered. 

“Why don’t you see him first, then come and talk to me, alright?” Ramos suggested, gesturing for them to go inside.

Nicky opened his mouth, then snapped it shut as he followed Joe’s lead, entering Booker’s room and closing the door behind himself. 

Booker was sitting on the bed, stripped to the waist as he wiped off blood from his face and body. The line was out of his arm and he looked pale and tired, the last of the wounds closing up as he roughly scrubbed himself clean. 

“Basti? What happened?” Joe asked, coming up to their Omega mate. 

Booker shook his head, throwing the towel down, “Quynh found me.”

Joe and Nicky both swore at that. Booker snorted a humorless laugh, “You can guess what she wanted. I tried to hold out, but once she threatened to sever my spinal cord and rip our daughters out before starting on everyone on the ward...I couldn’t keep quiet.”

Booker looked up at his Alphas, his eyes filling with bloody tears.

“I’m so sorry.”

Joe and Nicky only embraced him, letting him cry into their arms. 

“Don’t, Basti. Don’t. We’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out.”

~*~*~*~*~

Nile woke up, gasping for air and jostling Andy, who pulled a gun out. 

“What is it?” Andy growled, putting the gun away when Nile roughly rubbed at her eyes, gulping in huge breaths in order to get oxygen into her lungs.

“She’s on her way. She found Booker and tortured him for information. We have to move.”


	10. So I went home, to face the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andy and Nile make a rush to the safehouse, Quynh on their trail. Booker blames himself for a perceived betrayal that he find out from Joe and Nicky never took place. And after weeks of silence, Quynh appears to take her due.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a take a breather chapter before things start to get hectic again. Or more emotional. Take your pick. As always, many thanks to [Snarkasaurus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkasaurus) for their beta work on this chapter. It is GREATLY appreciated and thanks for letting me bounce outcomes/ideas as well. Thank you!!

_ Chapter 10-So I went home, to face the storm _

Nile squinted in the dark as they stepped out of the car, She rubbed at her burning eyes, yawning widely as she slammed the car door shut. They had been driving practically non-stop, bypassing Stuttgart and going straight to the outskirts of Oslo. She didn’t know how long it had taken, only that it had been  _ too _ long. 

Andy had done the brunt of the driving, aided by what seemed like litres of shitty black rest stop coffee from three different countries. And cigarettes. Enough cigarettes to make Nile need to keep the window open despite the icy chill in the air. She hated it, but was wise enough to keep her thoughts to herself.

Andy had snapped at her the moment that Nile had suggested switching spaces for a few hours.

“No. We need to have some distance between us and her. Booker’s useless to her now that they’ve met. You are her last link and she will use it. And will find us. So I’ll drive. I can do that much.”

Andy had replied and Nile had wisely remained quiet after that, deciding it would be best to doze and leave Andy to her cigarettes, coffee, and the Scandinavian music that blared from the car stereo.

She did just that until the car abruptly stopped, and she opened her eyes to see a nondescript house out of the way that kind of reminded her of Goussainville in its air of carelessness around it. 

“Relax. It may not look like much, but it’s decent. We should be able to hole up here just fine and deal with anything that happens after,” Andy told her as they pulled out their bags and went inside. 

She was right. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was warm and serviceable and seemed to have all utilities hooked up. 

“I need a shower and then I’m crashing. I’ll take the second watch,” Nile managed to get out before she yawned widely, tears leaking from her eyes as she did. Damn she was exhausted. Even with immortality, what they had done was draining, so she could only imagine how Andy herself was doing. 

Andy rubbed her eyes and blinked at her blearily. “No need. Booker did us a solid. We’ve got a few days.”

Nile’s eyes widened at that and was about to ask how when Andy shook her head, reminding her that the less she knew the better. 

“They’re fine for now. Don’t worry about them. Joe and Nicky can handle it.”

Nile nodded, “Right. I’ll just go take that shower then.”

Andy gave her a quick nod before she went into the kitchen, leaving Nile to find her way to the shower. 

Their conversation was left hanging there and despite Nile’s unease, she knew there was no point in dragging it out. They had Quynh to deal with and Booker was in the hands of his mates. Nile should have been relieved, but she had seen what Quynh had done to Booker, hurting him  _ just _ enough to not kill him or harm his children. 

Nile was glad she only had a glimpse of what Quynh had done, but it had been enough. Even if Booker had faced worse in his two hundred-odd years, it was still brutal punishment that had been inflicted on him. It had taken  _ her _ an hour or two to gather herself together, and she had only been a witness to it. 

She didn’t blame him at all for finally breaking, and she hoped that  _ Booker _ himself would be able to realise that also. He wasn’t exactly in the best of mental health at times, and despite making positive steps in that direction after his mating, he had a long way to go. And she hoped that this wouldn’t set him back and throw what progress he had made out the window.

She rubbed her forehead as she grabbed her stuff and made it to the bathroom, making a mental note to call Copely and check on Booker. 

It was the least she could do while they waited for Quynh to appear.

~*~*~*~*~

_ “I could sure use a fucking drink right about now _ ,” Booker thought as he entered the bathroom and closed the door. Despite not having been plagued by cravings since the first month of his pregnancy, he swore he could  _ taste _ the sharpness of whiskey in his mouth and how it burned down his throat. It was so strong that he was actually debating sneaking out and hitting the little corner store for anything alcoholic. At least enough to get a good buzz.

And to blot out the shame of his utter failure in-

A sharp jab from one of his daughters stopped his self-pity in its tracks. 

“Alright,  _ ma petites _ . Alright. I’ll stop feeling sorry for myself. It won’t help anything. Thank you for the reminder,” Booker muttered, laughing softly as he leaned heavily against the door and smoothed his hand down his bump a few times to calm his babies down.

Booker leaned against the bathroom door until he was sure that he wasn’t going to get jabbed in the ribs again. He was tempted to lock it, but he had no doubts that Nicky or Joe would break the door down if he did. Besides, as concerned as they were for him, they had backed off when he had announced he needed a bath to clear his head. He could give them  _ that  _ much credit, even though he was sure that they were staying put in the kitchen in case he needed anything. 

They had pretended that they weren’t going to stay at arm's length, but the moment he had turned to go to the bathroom, the unmistakable sounds of Nicky filling the kettle and Joe rifling through the cupboards echoed through the Madrid safehouse. He didn’t mind. He knew that he needed them to be close after all that had happened. 

He was glad that they had seen through his flimsy attempt to appear strong and had given him the space to continue to pull himself together somewhat. Something he hadn’t managed to do after he had collapsed in their arms while Ramos and Casillas hovered awkwardly outside. Even now, hours later, he wasn’t sure that he had really managed it. 

He had stopped crying after half an hour, and he was still embarrassed to have completely broken down in such a spectacular manner. It had been the shock, hormones, and stress that had made it worse. Ramos had been kind enough to explain it when he had checked Booker over once again, ignoring the smears of blood and the swollen eyes still on him. Yet it still stung to have been laid so bare in front of so many people.

Even if two of those people had been his Alphas.

Alphas that he had again betrayed. 

Booker swallowed hard as the weight of what he had done again swept over him like an icy wave. 

He closed his eyes and rubbed his face hard as he tried to push the overwhelming guilt away that was threatening to spiral out of control. Despite the assurances from Nicky and Joe that he hadn’t done anything wrong, he still felt that he failed them and failed his family.  _ Again. _

The worst was that he had promised he’d make amends for his earlier betrayal, yet the moment he had his back up against the wall, he had folded. 

He  _ had  _ held out. Quynh had worked him over for a long time, her knives going in the soft parts of him, never going near his daughters until Quynh had lost patience and held the knives against his belly and his neck. It was only then that he had spilled. 

He had given Andy up, but his daughters, Joe and Nicky’s daughters, were safe. 

His mates had understood, and had breathed sighs of relief when Ramos confirmed they were healthy and safe. 

“You didn’t betray us,  _ mio Libretto. _ You made the best choice that you could have under the circumstances,” Nicky had whispered, his nails scratching the back of his neck and his hair as Nicky pulled him close to kiss him.

“You kept our daughters safe, Basti. You kept the others alive. You knew exactly what would happen. This isn’t the same, Basti. Not remotely close,” Joe whispered, embracing him from behind so that Booker was between him and Nicky. 

He had believed it then. Believed it when they had stayed with him that night, and the nights after, helping him heal the wounds Quynh’s visit had inflicted on him. They hadn’t given him any reason to believe that they blamed him for telling Quynh about Andy. 

Yet the doubt remained. 

It wasn’t true. He knew logically that it wasn’t. Yet his mind kept insisting of it, despite the overwhelming proof against his thoughts. Still…

He pushed himself off the door when he felt Joe and Nicky prod at the bond. A light, inquiring touch that forced him to head to the bath and turn on the water. He looked through the basket with the bright selection of bath bombs and picked out a blue and white one that smelled like the sea. He tossed it in and stirred the water with his hand, letting the scent soothe his keyed up nerves. 

The panic passed, enabling him to send a positive nudge in the bond. It was returned, and Booker sighed in faint relief.The last thing he needed was to have his mates come and find him a sobbing mess again. He was a little better, but nowhere near a hundred percent. 

Part of him wanted Joe and Nicky to take him to his nest and hold him until the panic and his own recriminations had quieted and passed. He was actually turning towards the door when he caught a glimpse of himself. 

“Oh. Hell no,” Booker muttered when he saw how grimy and dishevelled he appeared. His hair was greasy and stringy and his face was shiny with oils. His shirt was stained, and he could  _ feel _ the dirt on his body. His back suddenly decided to complain and one of his daughters decided to kick at his ribs. 

With a resigned sigh, he stripped the crumpled clothes and tossed them to the side before he carefully climbed into the tub. He turned off the water before carefully climbing in, sighing as the heat sank into his muscles. He lay there, letting his head rest against the tiled wall as his body relaxed and his mind quieted. His daughters also relaxed, their movements sluggish as he lay there. 

It was a much needed reprieve, and he let himself drift, realising with muted surprise that his mind was his own and he didn’t have to worry about falling asleep and finding Quynh there. It was all quiet and dark, and it was then that Booker realised it had been years since he had had this without needing to drink or drug himself into a stupor. 

He closed his eyes, drifting off until his mind plunged into the memory of Quynh pulling out the location of the safehouse Andy and Nile were heading to. 

_ He swallowed heavily as she pressed the blade against his right eye, cutting through the eyelid. He didn’t scream. She wouldn’t let him, shoving the corner of the blanket into his mouth to muffle any sounds he would have made. He felt his pulse speed up as he blood oozed down his face and the vision in that eye disappeared as it was pierced. _

_ Despite it being the second time she’d done it, there was no way of being prepared for what was coming.  _

_ He didn’t make a sound only wincing when her nails dug deep into the soft parts of his jaw, adding to the blood that was pooling down his neck and chest.  _

_ “Let’s try it again, little brother. Where is Andromache?” Quynh hissed, pulling the knife and the blanket away so Booker would answer.  _

_ He worked his jaw and her painful grip loosened, his cuts sluggishly healing while his daughters poked and kicked out, no doubt sensing his distress.  _

_ “I don’t know. They didn’t tell me,” Booker rasped out, wiping the blood from an eye that was still healing and blind.  _

_ Quynh irritated sigh was the only warning Booker got before she had his hair in her hand and the knife was now pressed against the back of his neck. He gasped when he felt another at the curve of his bump.  _

_ “Let’s try this again. If you don’t tell me where Andromache is, I will sever your spinal cord, then I will cut those brats out of you. Do you want to take the risk? Or would you rather explain to Yusuf and Niccolo how you let their children die?” _

_ Booker let out a shuddering breath when Quynh pressed the knife deeper into his neck and into his bump. _

_ “Tick tock, Booker. What’s it going to be?” _

Booker’s eyes flew open and he sat up, scrubbing his face with the rapidly cooling water to chase the images away and to check that the wounds had healed. They had, and he gulped in deep breaths in order to calm himself down. His heart was thudding against his chest, and his daughters kicked out at the sudden movement. 

He forced himself to take deep breaths to calm his racing heart, not wating to alert his Alphas and have them bursting into the bathroom to check on him. He could feel a questioning prod at the bond and he was about to reply when he heard a light knock on the door. 

“Basti? Is everything alright?” 

Booker blew out a deep breath before he finally found his voice. 

“ _ Oui!  _ Just startled myself awake. I’m alright,  _ cher _ . I’ll be out in fifteen minutes!” 

He waited for a few moments, hoping that Joe had accepted his reply and pushed a reassurance towards the bond to convince him and Nicky. 

“Alright. We’ll be in the kitchen.”

“Okay, I’ll see you and Nicky in a few minutes!”

“Okay, Basti. We’ll be waiting!” 

Booker grabbed a washcloth and a bottle of bodywash and squeezed some out, determined to not get lost in his memories again and freak himself out. 

Quynh was gone. Joe and Nicky were near.

They were safe and it was just a memory. Quynh was on her way to Prague, and Nicky and Joe were waiting for him in the kitchen, with tea and biscuits. 

He kept telling himself that as he scrubbed himself pink and smelled of nothing but sea salt and citrus body wash and hair products. He rinsed the tub and carefully got out, wrapping himself in the bathrobe that had appeared when he had been dozing in the tub. 

The sight of it made him smile despite himself, and the doubt and guilt ease enough to make it possible for him to open the door and make his way out to the kitchen where sure enough, Joe and Nicky were waiting. 

A pot of tea with milk and sugar waited, as well as a chipped blue and green ceramic mug Booker had claimed as his maybe twelve years ago. A plate of biscuits sat in the middle of the table, and both Joe and Nicky turned in his direction. Both stood up and reached him roughly at the same time, both encircling him. Joe in the front and Nicky behind him enfolding him in an embrace that melted most of his guilt and doubt.

They scented him as they held him, making him sleepy and lax with their caresses. Booker was sure that if they hadn’t been holding him up, he would have passed out on the floor. He hadn’t been so relaxed and felt so  _ safe _ in years, even though the circumstances were even less than ideal than they had been in years. 

“Basti...Basti...stay awake for a moment, will you,  _ habibi?” _

Booker looked up at Joe, his eyes heavily lidded as he did, making Joe’s scent rise at the sight of his Omega mate looking so soft and vulnerable. 

“What is it?” Booker murmured, trying to stay awake to hear what one of his Alphas had to say. 

Nicky laughed softly, pressing a kiss to Booker’s neck that made him shiver and let out a soft mewl.

“Andy just called. They’re safe in Oslo.”

Booker’s head shot up at that, all traces of sleep gone at the mention of Andy’s name.

“Oslo? They’re in Oslo?”

He whispered the name of the city as if it was the first time he had heard it and his heart felt lighter than it had in days.

So that meant—

Joe nodded while Nicky pressed another kiss on his neck. 

“Yes, Basti. They are in Oslo. Now do you believe us, darling Basti? You never betrayed them. You kept your word and you gave them enough time.”

Booker nodded, his heart too full to speak as the last bits of his self-doubt and recriminations disappeared and he was able to finally accept what his mates had been telling him all along. He wasn’t a traitor, and he was making his amends. He hadn’t betrayed them at all. He was fine. He was fine and they still loved him and hadn’t turned him away.

Just like they had said all those times and it hadn’t sunk in. At least, until now.

It surprised him, how quickly the breakthrough arrived. Yet he didn’t question it. He just accepted it like he accepted Joe’s kisses and Nicky’s embraces. 

“Come,  _ cuore.  _ Let’s have some tea.”

Booker laughed softly, “Yes,  _ mon coeurs _ . Let’s.”

~*~*~*~*~

Andy woke to the dim darkness, no light seeping in to let her know what time it was. She reached over for the phone Joe had insisted she carry and swiped it on. Squinting at the sudden brightness, she groaned when she saw it seven. She debated going back to sleep, but her body felt sore from sleeping so much. 

The weeks had passed slowly in Oslo since it was sunk in winter and the days were laughably short. She found herself missing the boys despite enjoying the company of Nile, who was showing her so many new perspectives that she found her apathy and ennui slowly slipping away. 

She found that training Nile and the occasional calls with the boys (in which she found the same renewed sense of purpose in Booker as his pregnancy progressed, something she was relieved to see as well) were giving her a much needed interlude where she could think and plan for however many years she had left. 

The only thing Andy didn’t like was needing so much sleep. It felt as if she was making up for lost time, and it was irritating her. But she still obeyed her body’s mandate and slept. Except for when she woke up sore and needed some nicotine to push her sluggishness away.

She found herself craving a cigarette, and that was the decider. She groaned quietly when she hauled herself to her feet and shoved her feet in her boots. Grabbing her jacket and patting the pockets to make sure she had her cigarettes and a lighter, she was ready to go.

She checked on Nile, who was still dead to the world on the bed next to hers, then went to the tiny yard still covered in snow. 

She stepped outside and pulled out a cigarette and lit it with practiced ease, inhaling the first drag as deeply as she could. She held the smoke, savouring it as if it was air, then exhaled, the smoke turning to a fog of blue crystals in the cold air. She paused, a sense of anticipation filling her. 

She looked around, breathing quietly in order to listen closely. Nothing. 

Andy took another drag of her cigarette and another, the anticipation feeling like electricity as it danced down to her fingertips. 

She had just lifted the cigarette back to her lips when she heard it. A soft crackling of snow. Then another. She flicked her cigarette off into the darkness and waited. 

Sure enough, the shadows moved and Quynh stepped forward, her face pale in the fluorescent lights dotting the backyard.

“Quynh.”

Andy breathed out, her eyes wide as she saw the woman she had loved and lost almost half a millenia ago.

She was there. She was real, and Andy felt as if she couldn’t breathe at the sight of her and the pain in her chest at seeing Quynh alive and in front of her once again. 

Quynh smiled as sweetly at Andy.

Right before she pulled out a gun and shot her twice through the heart.


	11. After I have travelled so far, we'd set fire to the third bar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Booker shares a slow intimate morning with his mates, while Nile meets Quynh and isn't as impressed at what she finds. She nearly pays the price in saying so, but a last minute intervention saves her and sends her on the run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a bit of a mixed bag in that the boys have a romantic interlude and the girls have tense action. But we're getting closer to a solution and things aren't going to be hunky dory just yet.  
> As always, a thousand thanks to [Snarkasaurus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkasaurus) who not only betaed this chapter, but pointed out several plot and logic discrepancies. Much appreciated!

_ Chapter 11-After I have travelled so far, we’d set fire to the third bar _

It was early morning in Madrid and it smelled like rain. The weak watery light and the soft sound of rain woke Booker up before either one of his mates. He could smell petrichor, and he laughed at himself. No matter how often they went to Madrid, he always forgot that April was the wettest month in the city. 

He blinked blearily at the soft light sneaking in from the grey-blue curtains, making the room’s soft green walls come into focus. He turned to look at his phone, propped up on a stack of brightly coloured paperbacks and checked the time. Too early still. 

Booker put it back and laid back as he debated getting up. A soft sigh interrupted his thoughts and he turned his head to see who had made the sound, since he didn’t want to wake them up just yet. And the sight of Joe and Nicky as they lay curled up around him in their nest made him smile softly. The nest was soft and comfortable and safe and Booker relished the time they spent with him in it, scenting him and holding him, with Joe usually being the big spoon while Nicky lay with his head nestled into Booker’s shoulder and their legs tangled together. 

Their daughters were quiet, no doubt sleeping and Booker wasn’t about to wake them up. As much as he enjoyed knowing that they were active and healthy, he did like having a rest once in a while. And these early morning wake ups were the closest he got to having them. 

He also needed the time to recalibrate and just  _ be _ before the day started and he was caught in the day to day demands of living.

Not that he minded it, but he did need to get himself ready for it. Unlike being on missions, lying low and actually  _ living _ wasn’t just a rush of adrenaline, action, and cleanup. It was a steady slog that he was woefully out of practice in and these quiet times helped. 

Having the warm embraces and scents of his mates surrounding him didn’t hurt any since it was connected to his favourite activities with Nicky and Joe. He let himself smile at the memories of leisurely mornings and the occasional afternoons tangled up in sheets and with his mates. The slow kisses, the explorations, and the satiation that came from being with two people that adored him and he adored in return.

Booker lived for those times, quietly enjoying their touches on his much more sensitive skin. He couldn’t get enough of Joe trailing soft kisses from the nape of his neck down to his shoulders, while Nicky did the same to his collarbone and chest. He loved to comb his fingers through Nicky’s hair when they sat on the couch to watch one of those ridiculous shows Spanish television seemed to be full of while Joe was off running errands or sketching them, a soft smile curving his lips as his pencil moved across the page. 

Just like he couldn’t get enough of Joe’s hands whenever he would rub his back now that he was nearly eight and a half months pregnant. He honestly didn’t recall his back aching so much with his sons, but then it  _ had _ been a long time and he had only carried a single baby at a time. He had to remind himself of that whenever he got irritated at being in pain and needing more help. 

Of course Joe and Nicky didn’t mind. They were sweet about it and it sometimes made him feel guilty. Particularly on the days when he simply couldn’t get out of the nest and lay in a fog. Those days were thankfully getting rarer and rarer as he got closer to his due date, which Ramos was convinced would be mid May. 

Something that both amused and annoyed him due to it being so close to his birthday. Joe was amused and Nicky only smiled in his soft way as he bent down to give Booker’s belly a kiss before kissing him. 

“And it will be a grand party for all three of you all the same. I will cook all your favourites, I promise you that.”

Booker smiled at the memory, pressing closer to Nicky and breathing in his scent of leather and pine that had him closing his eyes as it soothed the Omega side of him. His eyes slipped shut again as the scent enveloped him, relaxing him even further.

He would have drifted off to sleep if it hadn’t been for Joe murmuring something in his sleep and pressing his morning wood into Booker. The press of Joe’s cock was enough to pull him from his doze, and he pressed himself against his mate. Nicky stirred, making sleepy noises and rutting against Booker’s thigh. 

Booker only barely managed to bite back the moan Nicky’s rutting pulled out of him, biting his lip hard as the friction felt so good against his naked thighs. His boxers had ridden up during sleep and it brought back memories of Nicky fucking thighs while Joe took him apart with his fingers and mouth. 

He moaned at the memory, loud enough to wake Nicky and for the rutting to pause. 

“Morning,  _ Libretto.” _

Booker smiled as Nicky kissed his exposed shoulder and pulled Booker closer. 

They stared at each other, not saying anything as Nicky slid his hand under Booker’s too large t-shirt and gently cupped a swollen pec. Booker mewled at the touch, his eyes fixed on Nicky’s face as his Alpha stroked a thumb across the nipple, making him throw his head back, his mewl turning to a needy cry. 

He felt wetness start between his legs and his floral milk scent filled the air as Nicky continued to stroke his chest. He was getting wetter and his cock was getting harder at the touches. Nicky’s eyes were dark pools of desire as he moved his hand, shifting a bit to give himself some room. He squeezed Booker’s chest gently and Booker cried out loudly enough for Joe to sit up behind him. 

“Mind if I join?” Joe asked, kissing Booker’s cheek. 

“Never,” Booker and Nicky breathed out as Joe lay down behind Booker and pulled his boxers off. 

He squirmed as the cool morning air hit his lower body, but he didn’t have time to say anything since Nicky chose that moment to pull off his t-shirt and drop it over the edge of the bed. Nicky smiled at Booker’s puzzled expression, moving in for a kiss as his hand left Booker’s chest and slid down to wrap around his cock. 

Booker groaned as Nicky moved his hand, his head thrown back in silent ecstasy. 

“You look so good like this, Basti,” Joe murmured as he slipped two fingers into Booker, making him moan at the touch. 

“How wet is he?” Nicky asked. Joe laughed softly, sliding his fingers in and out and making Booker cry out brokenly at how good it felt to have Nicky and Joe working him into an ecstatic mess. 

He knew how it would end, yet his lust added brain was melting down at the possibility of being left on the edge and not finding relief. 

“Wet enough to slip in and fuck him into a sobbing mess. Is that what you want, Basti? My cock in you while you come in Nicky’s hand? And then he comes into yours?”

The question was punctuated by Joe pulling his fingers nearly out, then thrusting them back into Booker, making him cry out in agreement.

“He said yes,  _ cuore _ ,” Nicky murmured, continuing to leisurely stroke Booker while Joe shifted their Omega so he could do just as he promised Booker. He gripped Booker’s hip, rounder and softer as his pregnancy progressed and pressed inside the wet softness slowly. 

“ _ Mon Dieu,  _ Joe! Move!” Booker cried out, pushing back to encourage Joe to do so. 

“None of that,  _ Libretto.” _ Nicky murmured, tightening his grip just enough to make Booker groan and his eyes flutter at the sensation. 

Joe laughed softly, kissing Booker’s shoulder before he moved. Slowly at first, then faster to match the rhythm that Nicky was using.

They kept it up for how long, Booker couldn’t say. He was lost in the pleasure his mates were giving him, his eyes rolling in the back of his head as they took him apart. The bond they shared pulsed with their emotions, reflecting them back to each other so strongly they weren’t sure where one began and the other ended. With every touch, every move, his pleasure built deep inside of him. His mouth was open as he yowled out his pleasure, while Joe’s groans accompanied them. 

Someone shoved their fingers into his mouth and he blindly sucked on them, the sensations becoming almost too much. He was so close, so close and when Joe thrust deeper, Booker’s vision blacked out and he gave a guttural shout as he spilled all over Nicky’s hand. 

He came to himself at Joe’s cry and him falling forward onto Booker as he came.

They lay there quietly before Joe nipped the mating mark on Booker’s neck, pulling out as gently as he could. 

Booker purred, opening his eyes to mere slits as he beckoned Nicky over, kissing him slowly. He wanted to taste all of him, his tongue exploring every bit of Nicky before he pulled away, leaving Nicky breathless and blinking. Booker grinned tiredly before he licked his hand, getting it as wet as possible before slipping it into Nicky’s pants.

Joe hummed, shoving pillows under his head to get a better vantage point to watch Nicky’s face as Booker worked his magic.

Nicky’s eyes went wide and his mouth fell open as Booker stroked him, moving fast. Nicky’s groan was something Joe was familiar with, and he watched as his husband flushed with desire. His pale skin pink as Booker continued. Nicky’s breathing got ragged after a few minutes and Booker went further. 

Joe watched as Booker leaned forward and did something that made Nicky’s eyes widen further and shout. 

“Works every time,” Booker noted smugly, slightly leaning forward to kiss Nicky.

Nicky closed his eyes, nodding in agreement. 

They lay in the nest, thoroughly debauched until Booker’s stomach growled and he hissed in annoyance. 

“Come on, my loves. It’s time. Can’t let our daughters go hungry, can we?” Joe asked, slipping out of bed first and throwing on his boxers. 

He moved to the bed and helped Booker up, while Nicky pulled a sheet to cover their Omega. 

“Shower first?” Booker asked, arranging the sheet more to his liking. 

“Of course. A shower couldn’t hurt. After a second round?” Joe asked innocently. 

Nicky and Booker looked at each other and grinned. Of course he would say that.

“If you play your cards right, maybe.”

Joe’s grin sharpened. 

“You know I will.”

~*~*~*~*~

The sound of the gunshots were what initially woke Nile up. The screams that followed finished the job of getting her fully awake.

The horrific, heart-breaking screams that penetrated her dreams and still kept going when she opened her eyes. She flew out of bed, gun in her hand as she ran to the source of the screams. 

She shivered at the cold and felt her stomach sink as she ran to the open door leading to the small backyard she and Andy used as a training area. Andy, despite her laissez-faire attitude about many things, wouldn’t have just left the door ajar that way. 

Nile hoped she was wrong when she went outside and saw Andy’s body sprawled out inelegantly on the snow covered ground with Quynh screaming over her. 

A gun was tossed to one side and Quynh was screaming as she pressed her hands down on the bleeding gunshot wounds in Andy’s chest. 

Nile didn’t lower her gun, keeping it trained on a hysterical Quynh as she tried to keep Andy from bleeding out. 

A good thing, Nile noted calmly forcing herself to not go into hysterics as she focused on the next step. She pulled out her phone to call an ambulance, finally putting her gun into the back of her jeans when it was obvious Quynh was too horrified and hysterical to think of attacking. At least Nile  _ hoped _ she was. 

She needed a free hand to check if Andy still had a pulse before she did call. Even though it was highly unlikely now that Andy was mortal, she still held out hope that there would be one and they would be able to save her. 

“How did this happen? How? This isn’t what I saw!” Quynh howled as Nile gently pressed her fingers to Andy’s neck and waited, not bothering to reply to Quynh’s anguish as she looked for a pulse. 

“How did he hide it? How did  _ you _ hide it?” Quynh cried out harshly as Nile waited, hoping that she would be able to feel even the faintest flutter of life. 

She waited for a few minutes more before she finally shook her head and looked up at Quynh who was both white with rage and sorrow. But not insane. Something that took Nile aback when she saw the dark intelligence in those dark brown eyes so unlike hers. 

“We didn’t think about it. Booker probably suppressed it. Or wasn’t a priority since he has been having a hectic time, what with being impregnated, being kidnapped, and being tortured. You know, stuff like that.” 

Quynh glared at Nile, but had enough self-awareness as to not snap and instead, look slightly ashamed at the last part. 

Nile only stared back at Quynh, not impressed in the least with her reaction. Booker, she understood. Spending time with him and reading between the lines and having Joe and Nicky fill her in as to what happened in the lab gave her enough information to understand his desperation. 

Quynh had no excuse for what she did to Booker. Or his children. She had aimed to hurt not just him, but Nicky and Joe by extension. Even if she did love them, she sure wasn’t acting like it.

“But...Andromache wasn’t supposed to die. Not like this! Not like this!” Quynh hissed, tears slipping down her cheeks. 

Nile raised an eyebrow at the other woman’s words. “What did you expect was going to happen? You could have just—Oh I don’t know— _ talked _ to her before shooting her?”

Quynh let out a ragged sigh and pulled her shaking hands away from Andy’s bloody chest. 

“I was angry that she left me there to drown! Over and over and over!” Quynh hissed, making Nile back away and pull out her gun. 

She may have  _ looked _ like she had herself under some semblance of control, but Nile didn’t trust that it would hold for long. And even if she did die in the process, she wasn’t going to do it barehanded. 

“I lost count how many times I died. How long I fought until I was able to break free, while she was on land with Nicolò and Yusuf! She forgot  _ me! _ She wasn’t just supposed to permanently die!”

Nile slowly got to her feet, her gun still aimed at Quynh. 

“You know better than anyone that time runs out for us. Slowly or quickly, but we die. And the clock has been ticking for Andy for nearly a year now.”

Nile explained, wincing as she spoke. Even though they were all aware of Andy’s mortality, it was the first time she had ever said the words out loud. She knew it was coming, but she naively assumed it wouldn’t happen so soon. 

They had borrowed time and Nile swallowed as the anger over such a senseless death poured through her. She took several deep breaths to calm down, her eyes never leaving Quynh as the other woman got to her feet. 

“And you kept it from me! Both of you!” Quynh hissed, taking a step towards Nile. 

“Uh-uh. Don’t blame me or the Omega you tortured for your actions. It was horrible what happened to you, but that wasn’t on Andy. Or Nicky or Joe. They looked for you and they never forgot you. This,” Nile gestured to Andy still lying in the snow, “this is all you. And if this is what your love looks like, she’s better off not being alive to receive it.”

Joe wasn’t joking when he said Quynh was a pit viper in a fight.

One moment she was in front of Nile, the next, she had her hands around Nile’s neck and was pinning her against the wall.

“You don’t get to stand there and pass judgements on me! You’re just a child! You know nothing!” 

Quynh hissed, her grip tightening on Nile’s neck, making dark spots dance in her vision. She dropped her gun and clawed at the hands at her neck, gasping for air as it was slowly cut off. 

“I know enough not to shoot the person I claim to love!” Nile choked out, still clawing at Quynhs’s hands, her vision dimming as Quynh squeezed tighter. 

Her vision went black and she couldn’t breathe any longer when Quynh’s hands released their grip on her neck and she was left to fall like a sack of potatoes. She coughed and choked as she sucked in oxygen into her lungs, her vision slowly clearing up as she breathed.

Nile blinked a few times before she was able to get on her hands and knees, then slowly push herself up onto her feet, her jaw falling open at the sight that greeted her. 

Andy was standing there, restraining Quynh, her blue eyes blazing like blue flames in her blood stained face. 

She’s got an arm hooked around Quynh’s neck and the other was wrapped around her waist. Despite Quynh’s struggles, Andy’s grip was firm as she yanked her away from Nile. 

“No, Quynh. No. This is between us. No one else.” 

Quynh snarled as she squirmed and fought Andy to no avail. 

“Nile, take the car and get into town. Find a room for the night. Maybe two. This might take awhile.”

Nile blinked at the words and snapped her mouth shut so hard her teeth clicked. 

“Are you sure?”

Andy nodded, her eyes softening slightly at the question. 

“I’ll be fine. Whatever happens, I’ll be fine. Now go.”

Quynh screamed and took a swipe at Nile, Andy’s arms around her waist and neck the only things keeping her from making contact. 

_ “Go!” _


	12. There's no plan, there's no race to run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nile reflects as she sits in a hotel room in Oslo, contemplating what Quynh's arrival will mean and her own relationships past and present. Meanwhile, Andy and Quynh sit down to find a solution to their dilemma. It doesn't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to [snarkasaurus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkasaurus) for the beta reading and bouncing off ideas from! 
> 
> So Nile, Andy, and Quynh have the spotlight in this chapter, but the boys will come back soon enough.

_ Chapter 12-There’s no plan, there’s no race to be run _

Nile locked the door of the bland and basic hotel room she had managed to get in a somewhat decent part of Oslo and flopped down on the double bed with a huff. She lay back, staring at the dull beige ceiling as she tried to make sense of everything that had happened in the last...She looked at her watch and groaned when she saw only three hours had passed since Quynh had shown up and shot Andy. 

Nile sat up, shaking her head in both relief and disbelief over Andy surviving being shot. She was immortal again and despite seeing the proof with her own eyes, she needed a moment. She lay back down again and closed her eyes, the image of a very much alive Andy holding a spitting and fighting Quynh back filled her mind. 

As much as she didn’t want to think or see Quynh, that was the first image her mind came up. Andy with her face steely and determined, her eyes burning as she barked out instructions. Her eyes blazing blue and sharp as lazers, unlike the way they had looked when she had lain lifeless in the snow, her blood soaking the snow under and around her. 

Nile exhaled and opened her eyes as she felt the weight of the worry she had carried regarding Andy’s mortality fall off her shoulders. 

She blinked at the ceiling as she realised exactly how much that had been weighing on her as they had gone on missions and waited for Quynh to appear. Now that the worry was gone, she couldn’t help but to smile in relief at not losing her mentor and the immortal she was the closest to. 

Well, in theory. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen now that Quynh was back. Andy hadn’t called or messaged her yet and Nile wondered if the next time they spoke, it would be to simply say goodbye to each other and a flimsy promise to see each other in a few year’s time.

A sudden wave of loneliness swept through her at that thought and she curled up on her side to ease it. At that time, she would have given anything to hear her mother’s voice and to talk to her brother once more. Or be able to sit back and chill, secure in the easy camaraderie that she had with Jay and Dizzy. 

Sure, the boys were always friendly and warm as always. With Nicky and Joe and even a somewhat shy Booker giving her hugs when they saw each other. Yet as they got ready for their upcoming arrivals and what with Booker going through the wringer, she could understand why they weren’t as able to spend as much time together as they would have liked. 

She wouldn't begrudge them their happiness, no matter the circumstances in which it was created. Even if she did feel a bit like a third wheel and a bit lonely, she couldn’t stew in it for long. It wasn’t in her nature and besides, there was no point in worrying over what had happened yet. 

And even  _ if _ Andy decided she would go with Quynh (Nile sincerely doubted that Andy would be so blase as to bring back the woman that had tortured and threatened Joe and Nicky’s mate  _ and _ their children) Nile knew she could always go and stay with Nicky, Joe, and Booker for as long as she wanted. 

_ “Maybe now Quynh’s finally showed up we can get a break. And I can see them again. Maybe make it in time to see the girls born.”  _

A smile curved her lips as she pictured how ecstatic the boys would be once their daughters would arrive. It pushed her bleak mood aside as she reached for her mobile and started thumbing through her picture gallery. She knew from Booker’s updates that they were working towards making the Madrid safe house a safe and welcoming home for their daughters. She flicked through the pictures and admired the process that Joe and Nicky, no doubt, had done the brunt of the work for.

The house wasn’t looking as neglected and dusty as it had when they had arrived that night after Booker’s rescue. The walls became brighter (no doubt courtesy of Joe’s artistry) and new furniture replacing the old musty ones. The room allotted for the nursery too, was starting to take shape with night skies and fairy tale creatures coming alive under Joe and Booker’s hands. 

She wondered if they had added to it and opened her texts to see if Booker had sent anything new. 

“Nice!” she muttered as she opened the newest texts and saw what she had been waiting for. 

The first picture had Nicky and Booker sitting on the drop cloths and intently studying a book. Booker looked like he was in the middle of an explanation, pointing at a wall while his gaze was focused on the book in front of him. Nicky, on the other hand, was studying Booker, the soft smile of a besotted Alpha clear upon his face. 

The next was Booker painting a wall, his back to the camera as he worked. She could see that the half-finished wall was supposed to be the subject but it was Booker that her eye was drawn to and she shook her head in amusement. The two Alphas had it  _ bad _ for their Omega and it showed. 

“Good thing they’re working on getting their shit together and keeping it like that,” Nile muttered as she went to the next picture.

They both looked happier than Nile had seen them look in months, with paint smears on their faces, clothes and hair. Booker was laughing at something Joe had said, while Joe himself looked utterly pleased, his eyes shining with obvious love and affection towards his mate. 

If it had been anyone else, she would have been rolling her eyes as the sappiness of the pictures. But it was Joe and Nicky and Booker. It wasn’t corny. It was sweet that the two Alphas were as in love with Booker as they were with each other and weren’t afraid to show it to him. They wanted him to know he wasn’t just an add-on. Or their broodmare. 

And by the looks of Booker in the pictures, he was finally realising the same thing.

She shook her head and texted: “ _ Looking good! And the walls too! XP! When’s the arrival date?” _

Nile put the phone down and stretched out on the bed, checking the time again. It was still very early, so she didn’t expect a reply. Nor would breakfast be served for a while yet. 

She debated watching some mindless television while she waited until a wave of exhaustion washed over her. The adrenaline crash she thought she would avoid arrived with a vengeance, and Nile was less than impressed or amused. 

“Nice timing, Quynh,” Nile muttered crossly as she kicked off her shoes, took off her jacket and crawled under the covers. 

Might as well get some sleep while she was able. She had a feeling that she’d need it. 

~*~*~*~*~*

Andy landed on her back, slightly winded as she hit the ground. She blinked up a few seconds before rolling out of the way of Quynh’s fist. She transitioned the roll into a crouch and she waited for Quynh to attack. Her hands were up and she watched as Quynh turned and flew at her again. 

She was getting tired, though, and Andy grabbed her easily, pinning her arm behind her back and smashing her into the side of the house. Again. 

“Are we finally done, Quynh?” Andy asked, trying to keep the weariness out of her voice as she asked the question for what felt like a hundredth time that day. 

They had been fighting since Andy had yelled at Nile to go, leaving her to face Quynh’s wrath alone.

And it had been a wrath for the ages. Andy was sure that both of them died at least ten times as they fought in the yard. It was a mess now, since their fighting had churned up the dead grass and snow until it was muddy and they were covered in it as well as their own blood and sweat. 

The watery sun was high in the sky as they kept on fighting, but Andy could feel that it was starting to draw to a close. They were both getting sloppy and sluggish and even if Quynh’s fury hadn’t completely burned itself out, they were going to have to stop and call it quits. Something that Andy was hoping for so that they could finally sit down and talk. 

Quynh didn’t answer, only snarled as she fought to get free from Andy’s implacable grip. Andy put more pressure on the arm, making Quynh grunt in pain. Andy had already broken her arm twice and she wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Quynh knew this, yet she still struggled.

“Well, Quynh?” Andy asked in a bored tone. 

Quynh held out for a few minutes more before she finally went limp. 

“Alright, Andromache. I yield.”

Andy snorted, “Do I have your word?” 

Quynh barked out a humourless laugh. “You do.”

Despite the assurance, Andy backed away as if she was putting down a live bomb on the ground. As much as she wanted to believe that Quynh wouldn’t turn around and cut her throat open, she wasn’t going to take any chances. Not when she had already been shot and gotten her neck snapped by not being careful enough. 

Quynh watched her with faint amusement, rubbing her arm as she did. 

“I’ve got some vodka inside if you want. Tea can be made if you don’t. Either way, I think we need to sit down and figure whatever all of this is,” Andy stated, waving vaguely at herself and at Quynh. 

Quynh’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t disagree. She just opened the door and went inside. She sat down at the table, taking off her muddy red coat and watched as Andy dug around in the cupboards for a bottle of vodka.

“No glasses?” Quynh asked when Andy sat across from her, opened the bottle and took a healthy swig before passing it to Quynh. 

“Not for this conversation. Now drink up,” Andy replied, making Quynh raise an eyebrow and do as she was told. 

She sputtered a bit after taking a drink, wincing at the burn of the alcohol as it went down. She gasped and pressed her wrist to her mouth, hunching in on herself a bit before she passed the bottle back to Andy. 

“Still tastes like burning death,” Quynh rasped out, making Andy smile faintly as she recalled Quynh saying that exact thing many centuries past. 

If she tilted her head just right, she could pretend it was just another night of them alone, drinking after a hard won battle and talking late into the night. But Quynh moved her head and the simmering rage shone in her eyes and the illusion was gone. 

No. This wasn’t the same woman she had known and loved all those years past and Andy had to admit that she wasn’t sure if it was possible to do so now. Not after what had transpired between them.

“Here. Your turn,” Quynh whispered, shoving the bottle towards Andy, who took it and drank as she pondered whether they could come up with some kind of compromise if possible at all. 

She should have discussed it with the others, instead of deciding it for herself in the kitchen of the Oslo safehouse. Maybe. But she couldn’t see anything positive coming out of that. Not when Quynh had tortured Booker and threatened Nile as well. Nicky and Joe may have been Quynh’s family at one point, but Andy doubted that they would simply accept her back with open arms after torturing Booker and threatening their children. 

She knew what Quynh had done to Booker, Nile unable to keep it to herself as they went on the road. 

She had been shaken, whether from the injuries Quynh had inflicted or the coolness by which Quynh had worked, Andy wasn’t sure. All she knew was that it had taken Nile a few hours to put it behind her. Andy had only driven in silence and tried to come up with strategies on how to deal with Quynh. She didn’t come up with a single one. 

Not even Booker’s betrayal had been as hard to decide on. She understood why the Omega had acted as he had after what he had admitted in the lab and later as his pregnancy had progressed. She had also seen and heard from Nicky when they had rushed to rescue Booker exactly how Copely had spun the mission and what was supposed to be the outcome. 

There had been logic to his decisions. Misguided logic tangled with grief and guilt, but it was logical nonetheless. Whereas with Quynh…

“Have you made your decision yet, Andromache?” Quynh interrupted, making Andy sigh and push the bottle over to her. 

“What do you want me to say, Quynh?” Andy asked as Quynh took another drink and left the bottle in the middle of the table. 

Quynh sat back and crossed her arms as she studied Andy, her face a mask as she worked out her reply. 

They sat in silence for a long time, neither woman moving when Quynh finally spoke. 

“That we can be like we were before you left me at the bottom of the ocean. You promised me forever, Andromache. I want you to live up to that promise.”

Andy blinked, “You shot me, Quynh. You tortured Booker and threatened Nicolo and Yusuf’s daughters. You nearly killed Nile. There’s no going back to how we used to be after all that, Quynh. They would never forgive that, no matter what ties we had in the past.”

Quynh nodded as if accepting Andy’s explanation before she tilted her head to look at Andy. 

“Fine. They won’t forgive me. That’s fine. They didn’t make me a promise they have to uphold.  _ You _ did.”

Andy paled, but nodded weakly, “I did.”

Quynh smiled, “So what will it be, Andromache of Scytha? We can’t go back to them. And you can’t break your promise to me again, because I can promise you _ will  _ regret it. So what will it be?”

Andy closed her eyes briefly, silently apologising to the rest of her family before she opened her eyes and looked at an expectant Quynh. 

“I promised forever. So you’ll have forever from me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nile-She's definitely over thinking the situation, but since the others have been a constant for her in her new life especially Andy, she is worrying about the outcomes of Quynh finally showing up. She's finally alone in a year and she's definitely feeling it as she thinks about the boys and what to do next.   
> Andy and Quynh-I admit that I'm borrowing a bit from the comic book as to how tumultous things would be between them before finally calling a grudging truce to talk. Quynh is messed up and she doesn't care about playing dirty to get what she feels and thinks is rightfully hers. She's very morally ambiguous here and yes, there will be drama due to that.
> 
> Again, many thanks to all that are reading, commenting, and dropping kudos! Greatly appreciated!!


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